The Alchemist Book Report

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A Book Report on: The Alchemist By Paulo Coelho Biography of Author - Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janiero in 1947 and before his career as a best-selling author, he was a playwright, theatre director, hippie, and popular songwriter for some of Brazil's leading pop artists. In 1986 he took a pilgrimage along that Road of Santiago and this would be the center of the plot of the book, The Pilgrimage, which was published in 1987. His second book was named The Alchemist and was published in 1988. This book has gone to number one in 29 countries and Coelho has been regarded as the most widely read contemporary writers. The Alchemist was one of the top ten international best sellers of 1998. His work has been published in more than 100 countries and is translated into 42 different languages. He has been awarded a variety of prestigious awards from many different countries. He today lives in South America with his family. Main Characters - The Shepherd - This was the boy through whose eyes the story was told. He followed his personal legend to the fullest and never let up with his dream. He went all over the land and was able to realize the treasure that he had been so close to in the beginning of the novel. The King - He was the one that gave the shepherd the two stones that would supposedly help him whenever he had a rough time deciding about what to do. He made the boy give him ten percent of his flock, because you should never promise something that you don't have. The Englishmen - This was the man that the boy met on his trip to the pyramids. He was the one who turned the boy onto the idea of the alchemist and the masterwork. Before this he had never known of the alchemist and the great things that he could do in the world. The ...

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... to the main character to show the real hardships that he had faced while chasing his personal legend. If I would have had the opportunity to speak to the boy in the book I would have told him that he should have stayed on at the crystal shop because he had a good thing going and he could have made a lot of money and bought his own happiness and realized his personal legend in his own rite. One thing that reminded me of another book that I read was In the Lake of the Woods, because both of the main characters were trying to run away from what had been in their lives to find something better. I would recommend this book to anyone who was undecided about what their life was meaning to them. This book really gives them insight about their lives and that someone is worried about them and that there is something that they have to look forward to, like the crystal merchant.

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