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September 17, 2012
exhaust (v.) The Alchemist review
What I thought would be a book akin to Herman Hesse's Journey to the East, turned out to be more like William Styron's Darkness Visible. Styron's as well as Coelho's books, while significant in some ways and worth the time to read, somehow lacked the same kind of pivotal something that would help convey a deeper, more "stunning" message. I wasn't moved at the core - just at a cerebral level.
I was interested, but the work wasn't interesting.
The Alchemist was not poetry, nor was it song. It read clearly, candidly, and...banally - without leaving much of any kind of taste in my mouth, (what I think is much too close to a complete literary failure). The book set itself up as something portraying mystery, inviting curiosity and interpretation; instead, it provided a simplicity in its answers that made the work too plain and 'logical'. It may be a matter of my personal taste, but this exhausted me. Somehow working harder, energizes me as a reader.
I would have rather been pulled into a less comprehensible, more open-ended web of storytelling; instead, the author did not trust the reader to make any misguided judgments, draw any deeper conclusions, or be left to deliberate anything. Everything was there, as it was, at the end, and it did not encourage me to think further. Substance was missing.
What I hoped would be mystical code turned out to be a simple formula - and I don't think it's because I am a lazy reader (here's proof).
So here it is, a concise version of the above - from Goodreads:
The Alchemist by Paulo CoelhoMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
The overall story was a good one, though I wasn't particularly a fan of the writing style. The simplicity of sentences would have worked if the concepts embedded in them had not been so "densely" presented throughout. It was hard to keep track of powerful passages, as seemingly inane ones seemed somehow elevated (stylistically) to the level of much more profound ones. Not sure if that makes sense...
The seemingly central notion of alchemy still escaped me a bit as well, as the story lacked the magical flavours such a practice invites. I felt a bit disappointed that the work had not been more exhaustive. Perhaps this is because I have not given the idea of a man's pursuit for gold careful enough deliberation to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion for myself. The overall theme somehow was reduced to 'one man's treasure is another man's gold' which did not bode well with me....
I invite you to share your thoughts below. I hope I am wrong....
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