Why Coelho?
I usually retweet anything related to books or reading. In late May I came across a tweet that was seeking collaboration for the donation of books to communities in sub-Saharan Africa.
I retweeted and moved on.
Later I saw a story making the rounds about how a Brazilian author was donating copies of his books to Africa. I looked closer, it was Paulo Coelho.
His most famous book by a mile when I checked on his profile was the Alchemist, published in 1988. I told myself, “let's hold on to ‘Fire and Fury,’" which I was scheduled to read for the month of June 2019.
Coelho by that singular gesture had earned and fully deserved my attention. It turned out to be a worthy gamble - much more than I bargained for.
For the first time, I was reading along with a pal, who I had met on a whatsapp reading page. I seem to have lost my pal along the way but Coelho in The Alchemist drives home the point about losses as we go through life and I took that into stride.
The Alchemist is wired and weird, packed and stuffed, about life and a narrative with life. It helps strip you of biases as you trip the pages, it's a book fit for the artist as for the chemist.
How Coelho’s “Fatima” got me going
My mom is Fatima (bint Idriss) and so seeing that a character was so named even made the reading more pleasant for me (son of Hajia Fati). And oh, may I add, she was the heartthrob of the main character, Santiago.
But Fatima's centrality sees her being the most mentioned name throughout the book. The book is scarce with names, most characters are largely hinged on descriptives - the sorcerer, the crystal seller, the bar owner, the old seer, the monk etc.
Even Santiago, who is at the heart of the story, is referred to as the boy for the better part of the book.
Since his meeting with Fatima at the Al-Fayoum oasis, she travelled the expanse of the story with full mention of her name.
She had convinced Santiago to go on in search of his treasure and she became a constant reminder to why he had to continue to strive, strive he did, thanks to Fatima and the thought of returning to her.
Religion and cross-continental narrative
Christianity is thrust into the fore as you start reading about the life of a young shepherd. You are of course in Andalusia, Spain; but only hours away from Africa, specifically Morocco.
Andalusia is simply a region in southern Spain on the Atlantic and the Mediterranean; formerly a centre of Moorish civilization.
Shepherd Santiago's animals are his best allies and he oscillates between love for them and thoughts and plans of leaving them to pursue other interests.
So does he abandon them, sort of hand them over for money to facilitate his journey across the ocean. He crosses into Morocco from Spain within the span of a day, but his eyes are on Egypt's pyramids which lie at the other side of the desert - which desert he has to cross.
The journey across the desert ushers in Fatima, the English man, fellow travellers and ultimately the Alchemist.
Santiago lives/survives on the words of a wise old king, he depends on omens - Urim and Thummim, on sagacious sayings along his journey and it all ends up well - the discovery of his personal legend.
There are highs and lows, there are ohs and ahs. There are close shaves and what you could call proverbial caves filled with words of wits and wisdom.
The two parts of the book combine seamlessly to provide a very good read, worth anyone's time. The Alchemist is a life and literary alchemy with a desert of awe and a oasis of natural law.
Characters, new words and places mentioned in the book
From Part I
New Words: Levanter – Moors – Clovers – Urim and Thummim – Breastplate – Shear – Sycamore – Raven – Gypsy – Clovers – Heeled
Characters: Santiago – Abraham – Crystal seller – Friend – bar owner – Merchant – Merchant’s daughter – Father – Old Woman
Places: Levant – Tangier – Ceuta – Tarifa – Andalusia – Salem – Egypt
Lessons:
Cleaning the windows of the crystal shop despite the inability to effectively communicate
Language barrier - Spanish to Arabic
Living in two different continents over the course of a day
Part II
sentinels - Exultant - Suffase - Habituate - Prognostic - Scimitar - Genies - Monotony - Sirocco - Scarab - Abraded - Conquistador
Fatima - Tribal chieftains - Old seer - Monk at monastery - Emperor Tiberius of ancient Rome - Attackers at the Pyramids
I usually retweet anything related to books or reading. In late May I came across a tweet that was seeking collaboration for the donation of books to communities in sub-Saharan Africa.
I retweeted and moved on.
Later I saw a story making the rounds about how a Brazilian author was donating copies of his books to Africa. I looked closer, it was Paulo Coelho.
His most famous book by a mile when I checked on his profile was the Alchemist, published in 1988. I told myself, “let's hold on to ‘Fire and Fury,’" which I was scheduled to read for the month of June 2019.
Coelho by that singular gesture had earned and fully deserved my attention. It turned out to be a worthy gamble - much more than I bargained for.
For the first time, I was reading along with a pal, who I had met on a whatsapp reading page. I seem to have lost my pal along the way but Coelho in The Alchemist drives home the point about losses as we go through life and I took that into stride.
The Alchemist is wired and weird, packed and stuffed, about life and a narrative with life. It helps strip you of biases as you trip the pages, it's a book fit for the artist as for the chemist.
How Coelho’s “Fatima” got me going
My mom is Fatima (bint Idriss) and so seeing that a character was so named even made the reading more pleasant for me (son of Hajia Fati). And oh, may I add, she was the heartthrob of the main character, Santiago.
But Fatima's centrality sees her being the most mentioned name throughout the book. The book is scarce with names, most characters are largely hinged on descriptives - the sorcerer, the crystal seller, the bar owner, the old seer, the monk etc.
Even Santiago, who is at the heart of the story, is referred to as the boy for the better part of the book.
Since his meeting with Fatima at the Al-Fayoum oasis, she travelled the expanse of the story with full mention of her name.
She had convinced Santiago to go on in search of his treasure and she became a constant reminder to why he had to continue to strive, strive he did, thanks to Fatima and the thought of returning to her.
Religion and cross-continental narrative
Christianity is thrust into the fore as you start reading about the life of a young shepherd. You are of course in Andalusia, Spain; but only hours away from Africa, specifically Morocco.
Andalusia is simply a region in southern Spain on the Atlantic and the Mediterranean; formerly a centre of Moorish civilization.
Shepherd Santiago's animals are his best allies and he oscillates between love for them and thoughts and plans of leaving them to pursue other interests.
So does he abandon them, sort of hand them over for money to facilitate his journey across the ocean. He crosses into Morocco from Spain within the span of a day, but his eyes are on Egypt's pyramids which lie at the other side of the desert - which desert he has to cross.
The journey across the desert ushers in Fatima, the English man, fellow travellers and ultimately the Alchemist.
Santiago lives/survives on the words of a wise old king, he depends on omens - Urim and Thummim, on sagacious sayings along his journey and it all ends up well - the discovery of his personal legend.
There are highs and lows, there are ohs and ahs. There are close shaves and what you could call proverbial caves filled with words of wits and wisdom.
The two parts of the book combine seamlessly to provide a very good read, worth anyone's time. The Alchemist is a life and literary alchemy with a desert of awe and a oasis of natural law.
Characters, new words and places mentioned in the book
From Part I
New Words: Levanter – Moors – Clovers – Urim and Thummim – Breastplate – Shear – Sycamore – Raven – Gypsy – Clovers – Heeled
Characters: Santiago – Abraham – Crystal seller – Friend – bar owner – Merchant – Merchant’s daughter – Father – Old Woman
Places: Levant – Tangier – Ceuta – Tarifa – Andalusia – Salem – Egypt
Lessons:
Cleaning the windows of the crystal shop despite the inability to effectively communicate
Language barrier - Spanish to Arabic
Living in two different continents over the course of a day
Part II
sentinels - Exultant - Suffase - Habituate - Prognostic - Scimitar - Genies - Monotony - Sirocco - Scarab - Abraded - Conquistador
Fatima - Tribal chieftains - Old seer - Monk at monastery - Emperor Tiberius of ancient Rome - Attackers at the Pyramids
