The Alchemist

The title of the book is The Alchemist written by Paolo Coelho. The book has one hundred ninety five pages. Its publisher is HarperCollins Publishers Inc. The company that published the book is the Harpertorch located at the 10 East 53rd street New York, New York. A previous paperback edition was published in 1994 by HarperSanFrancisco, a division of HarperCollins Publishers. A HarperFlamingo edition was published in 1998. A previous HarperPerennial paperback edition was published in 1998. First HarperCollins hardcover edition was publishef in 1993. The first Harpertorch revised international printing was October 2006 and the first Harpertorch international printing was on December 2002. The book is an English version of O Alquimista, the Portuguese original edition, published in Brazil by Editora Rocco Ltd. (Rio de Janeiro). The book was considered to be an International Bestselling Phenomenon with more than twenty million copies and had been translated into fifty-six languages.

I decided to choose the book The Alchemist because I like its concept of discovering and following our personal legend. The title was also appealing since I am interested with alchemists.

Santiago was the main protagonist character of the novel. He is mature despite his age, gives up shepherding and travels away from his home country to find a treasure. He was the one who met the Alchemist. The alchemist was an old alchemist who guides Santiago in his journey to find his treasure and a teacher to Santiago of the art of alchemy. Melchizedek was an old king who gave advice to Santiago to fulfill his personal legend. The gypsy fortune-teller was a gypsy who interpreted Santiago's dreams of a treasure, and told Santiago to find it. She incited Santiago's resulting journey to his treasure, and procured a tenth of the treasure from Santiago. The crystal merchant was a man in Tangier who hired Santiago to work in his crystal shop and in result, prospered as his shop grows. He pays Santiago the money to travel to the oasis, Al Faiyum. Fatima was Santiago's second love in the oasis, Al Faiyum. She persuaded Santiago to find his treasure before returning to her. The Englishman was a man struggling to learn the ways of alchemy and trying to accomplish the Master Work. He spends much time reading and studying about the Master Work, but does not actually physically try until meeting the alchemist in Al Faiyum. The GeneralÐ'-Chief was one of the most powerful warring tribes in the Sahara. He captures Santiago and the alchemist, and demands to see Santiago turn himself into the wind. The robber at Egyptian Pyramids was the one who took Santiago's money and beats Santiago for more. When Santiago tells him that he is looking for treasure, the robber unintentionally tells of a dream that reveals where the real treasure is.

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