Andalusia to Giza... Back to Andalusia? (MB4)

I just finished reading The Alchemist and all I can say is "Wow!" Prior to reading the book, I thought it was going to be good, but I did not expect it to be nearly as good as it was. I can say, without a doubt, The Alchemist is one of the best books I have ever read. So before I talk about the book, I think it is only fair that I give Paulo Coelho a quick shutout... he deserves it. 


Throughout this book, Coelho manages to teach numerous life lessons and present many interesting perspectives all the while maintaining an intriguing plot. One of the most interesting aspects of the story were the different cultures that were introduced. The main character, Santiago, is from Spain. Therefore, the beginning of the book included a lot of Spanish and Iberian culture. Santiago then spent a good portion of the book working with a crystal merchant in Tangier, Morocco. During his time in Tangier, there were a lot of African and Islamic cultures that were discussed. Then, Santiago went on a caravan with an Englishman from Tangier through the Sahara desert to the pyramids in Egypt. I find it mind-blowing how much culture Coelho packed into The Alchemist, considering that it is a fairly short book. 

Lastly, since this is not an extremely popular book, I wrote a summary of the book below (*Spoiler Warning*):

Santiago, a shepherd from Andalusia, Spain, keeps getting a repeating dream in which a little boy tells him that there is treasure buried underground at the Pyramids of Egypt. Having difficulty interpreting the dream, Santiago visits a gypsy in Tarifa, Spain who convinces him to go to Egypt to find the treasure. He realizes that it is his personal legend, basically a fancy way of saying his "life's purpose". After selling his sheep and traveling for months, Santiago arrives in Tangier, Morocco. In Tangier, Santiago is robbed on his first day, therefore forcing him to stay in the town and get a job. For a while, he works at a crystal shop where he befriends an Islamic merchant who gave up on his personal legend of doing the Hajj to Mecca. Determined to not lose sight of his dream, as the merchant had, Santiago, after saving enough money, joins a caravan to go to Egypt. The caravan almost makes it to the pyramids but is forced to stop due to a tribal war. The caravan is stopped in Al Fayoum Oasis, Egypt where Santiago meets Fatima, the love of his life. Although is means temporarily leaving Fatima, Santiago, accompanied by an alchemist that joined him at the Oasis, travels onward towards the pyramids. Santiago makes it so close to potentially discovering the treasure, but he is captured by two men that beat and rob him. Before leaving, the one man reveals that he had experienced a recurring dream telling him to go to Spain and that under a sycamore tree, where a shepherd and his herd sleep, he would find treasure. Immediately, Santiago realizes that the two had the exact same personal legend just with their locations switched. So, Santiago goes back home to his field in Spain and digs under the sycamore tree that he used to sleep at the base of. Sure enough, he finds immense riches. Now satisfied that he has achieved his personal legend, he embarks on another journey so fulfill his second personal legend—reuniting with Fatima.

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