People say never judge a book by its cover, but when I saw Paulo Coelho’s allegorical novel The Alchemist sitting on the Best Sellers section at Barnes & Noble a few years back, with the heavy fog hovering over a mysterious castle barely visible in the midst of it all, the title sprawled across a papyrus cover, I grabbed it and bough it without even reading the summary on the back. As Amazon describes it:
[The Alchemist is] charming tale of Santiago, a shepherd boy, who dreams of seeing the world, is compelling in its own right, but gains resonance through the many lessons Santiago learns during his adventures. He journeys from Spain to Morocco in search of worldly success, and eventually to Egypt, where a fateful encounter with an alchemist brings him at last to self-understanding and spiritual enlightenment. The story has the comic charm, dramatic tension and psychological intensity of a fairy tale, but it’s full of specific wisdom as well, about becoming self-empowered, overcoming depression, and believing in dreams.
I held onto the copy for a few years without every opening it, but I heard more and more about it as the years passed, praising the book as one of the finest of modern day, a classic even. Which is why I was slightly disappointed when I read it. I did enjoy the story and the exotic locations and the idea of chasing ones dream (or “personal legend” as the book coins it), even if it means leaving everything one knows behind, but it played out more like a self-help book disguised as a fictional fairy tale than anything else. It is still a book I recommend to people when given the opportunity, but not one I consider a modern day classic like many had made it out to be.
I do think it is a story that would translate well to the big screen though and that is something we are going to be getting, with filmmakers Scott McGehee and Dave Siegel developing it for The Weinstein Company. As long as they keep it simple and don’t add in any huge war battles in attempt to create an epic war period piece that the book is not, this could turn into a visual feast of a fairy tale.
Are you one of those curmudgeons that prefer to be the Halloween equivalent of Ebeneezer Scrooge and say “bah humbug” to the trick or treaters and the costumes and the parties and just sit at home and watch TV with the lights off? If so, then I say good for you. It’s the perfect night to catch up on some old horror classics or some of the newer blood curdling extreme film making. But what if you forgot to run to the video store this evening or your cable is out? Luckily, YouTube has got you covered.
