Well, I guess this is not my type of novel. Its kinda like philosophy encoded in fiction. Nevertheless, I always want to blog. So here we go :) I think I can sum it all up in one question, but that'd be boring. So there are 4 main ideas.
1. Religion
There's a whole lot of religious views in there. Some embedded deep, and others fairly direct. Such as those of the 5 Islam obligations, the Roman Centurian prayer, and another direct quote from the Christian Bible. The direct quote from the bible (about what goes in and out of the mouth) was without citation. I don't know how I feel about that yet. Because, some people read novels just to pick out awesome phrases, words, and descriptions. If one doesn't know, one would think that Coelho came up with it. Its not just about the bible, but generally one would assume the quotes that appear in a book is written by the author (that's why we bother getting to know the author right? haha). Anyway, what Coelho was trying to do through this novel is to find a common denominator between all religions, bending it here and there, and yet again, I really don't know whether it's a good idea. He is walking on thin ice! There were some sort of Hinduism (fortune through sticks, birds, cards), and Pantheistic (all elements being one) views being surfaced throughout the novel.
Honestly, I didn't have a clear understanding of the meaning of this word, until now. So basically, its something like a sign or symbol that signifies the future. It could be good or bad. A lot of emphasis throughout the novel about how the boy (implicating that we should too I guess?) followed or should follow the omens. But then it was inconsistent towards the end (the convo between the alchemist and the boy) when "following the heart" was mentioned. There Coelho gets himself entangled again. Following your heart and following omens are two very different things, and could probably mess up your life, forever. He tried to explain the difference, however I think he wasn't very successful. Again, very dangerous topics Coelho is touching on.
3. Destiny
Here again, he confuses the readers between destiny and dreams (life goals). In the end, we aren't really sure whether finding the gold at the pyramids was his life dream that he achieved, or his destiny that he fulfilled. In the beginning he says : "...that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie." He portrays fate as a negative thing (I would assume), but the vision in his dream came true. There's a difference between the dreams in sleep, and dreams as in your life goals. The treasure at the pyramids was just a sleep dream, and when compounded with the Gypsy fortune teller reading his palms, it almost points to fate. We would like to believe he is making a choice to go for it, but the Gypsy was so sure it would happen that she asked 1/10 of the treasure before hand. So was his destiny predetermined, or he made a conscious choice to go for it, to realize a dream during sleep? I am not sure either.
4. Treasure
Gold was symbolically used as treasure, but the end-note was the treasure lies at Home. I guess that's the best place one would want to be. But then again, for me, really? Nahh, I'm not sure. I'm just waiting to travel, just like the boy (but not as a shepherd of course). Perhaps I will understand what 'Home' means in the future (I hope).
Overall
Language wise, no complexity. Reason being, he is a male writer perhaps? (No, I'm not a feminist). Depth, no. He superficially touched on many issues. That's the other thing. He touched on many issues all at once, and they were huge topics - topics even some experienced writers wouldn't dare travel to. Usually a good director or writer would focus on one main theme at a time. In this novel, his sub-themes seems like they could have stood alone. The novel being short is not an issue. Some people can mesmerize within a short period of time, but for me Coelho could not deliver. Also, there were a lot of repetitions in ideas. For a very short novel, if you keep reminding the reader about the themes, I think that's suicide.
The one question that sums this novel is, should one strive to be better? As in, give up what you have in hand right now, for something bigger (that you might not necessarily have yet - but Coelho tries his best to convince you - You Can!). Throughout the journey he could have settled, with his sheep, at the crystal shop, at the oasis. Everywhere along the way was just fine. He could have even get married, but he literally threw it all away in search of treasure that he dreamt during his sleep. Making the dream recurrent doesn't make it convincing. If he was a treasure hunter, it would have been a different thing altogether. I'm not going to write about the love part of the novel, because its kinda like 'love at first sight' (and don't bother giving me that love at first sight can be your mom thing) and I hate that idea.
However, I felt rather happy after reading the book. I felt like a little adventurous boy. Sometimes we should just chill. Haha. Anyway, I need my dose of awesomeness. I'm going back to Picoult. See you in the next review!
No comments:
Post a Comment