The Alchemist / Paolo Coelho
RATINGS
Overall: 5 / 5 stars
Text Level: Medium
Entertainment: High
Self-Help: Medium
Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Philosophy, Spirituality, Self Help, Adventure, Inspirational
Page Count: 192
Is this book right for my inmate and me?
A good read for someone hoping to restore their faith in God and build a better understanding in what they can achieve if they always keep working towards a dream will find this a magical tale. The author blends an always-deepening spiritual faith with a story of adventure. Filled with setbacks, we are reminded that having faith in something more and better often is the key to happiness If you feel you have lost it all this book can lift you up and place faith in your heart to keep moving forward.
Review By: Blackbird (Inmate)
The journey towards our dreams can still be achieved if we learn from past lessons and keep faith.
In the face of adversity will we keep moving forward when all hope seems lost? What life lessons will we learn as we work towards our dreams and goals? Paolo Coelho brings us a story about a young shepherd that must face these questions as he searches for his promised treasure.
We all have dreams and our own treasures we are in search of. Being incarcerated it becomes so very easy to feel that our dreams are lost forever and success will never find us. However, sometimes the roughest journeys teach us the greatest lessons that are worth their weight in gold. The Alchemist is a story that shows the inmate that life is full of lessons and signs that surround us to improve our lives.
Part magical story, part philosophical exploration, Paolo Coelho creates a story that leads to the spiritual growth of his readers while we follow the adventure of our hero. We meet a young shephard boy that is promised a treasure of untold fortunes by an old king that lays at the foot of the pyramids. The boy sells all that he owns and sets off for the treasure across the sea. Knowing no one the shepherd finds himself quickly taken advantages of and losing the little money he has, he finds himself lost in a distant land with no way to return home. His faith and trust questioned by his troubles, he learns valuable life lessons that help in building his resolve to carry on towards his dream. Along his way he meets individuals that teach him about life, love and faith. His belief and spirituality grow with each event bringing him closer to God and hopefully the imagined treasure.
Life is difficult and sometimes filled with immeasurable pain, but these are lessons we can learn through it for a better future. As inmates we must have faith that our treasure still lays in front of us in life. This book helps a person in jail understand that our current struggles don’t have to stop us from reaching our dreams. In each of the falls, troubles, and setbacks, we read about in this story we can see ourselves. Just like the shephard boy, we can learn from them and in turn become closer to our Creator.
Paolo Coelho creates us a story that provides us growth, learning, and faith for our souls.