The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
Published by Harpertorch/HarperCollinsPublishers: New York, NY, 2002. Originally published in 1988 as O Alquimista in Portuguese. English translation by Paulo Coelho and Alan R Clarke, 1993. I've had this book recommended to me in the past, and finally got around to reading it. It is not a long book (167 pages) and is an easy read - in fact, I read it in a single sitting. It is also a simple story, told in a style that is allegorical or "parable-ic." The protagonist of the story is a boy introduced on the first page as Santiago, but from then on only referred to as "the boy." He has taken up the life of a shepherd in order to see the world, after having learned reading and writing when his parents desired for him to become a priest. After having a vivid dream, 'the boy' seeks to learn its meaning, firstly from a gypsy fortune-teller, and then by meeting Melchizedek, the king of Salem - a historical figure found in Genesis 14, and often seen as a metaphor...