First Impressions Journal-Andrew Davis

By: Andrew Davis
The Alchemist is a book written by Paulo Coelho. So far, I have seen the book to revolve around two people; Santiago, who is a shepherd, and a girl who he took interest in, who's name remains unknown at the moment. Typically, I enjoy stories based on legends, as the legends being told are always interesting. Therefore, this book has quite piqued my interest. However, an overwhelming use of difficult vocabulary combined with had to understand passages is taking away from that experience.

Upon reading the first page of this book, I was quite taken a back at the enormous lack of context that was provided for the introduction. The story just jumped into the life of a random boy named Santiago who was walking into a church. The reader (in this case, me) has to find out for themselves what is happening, making it a challenge. Quite frankly, I do not always enjoy challenges while reading novels-moreover, I would rather have it to be an enjoyable experience. However, a positive would be the fact that by not revealing much in this scene, Paulo Coelho keeps the reader in suspense about what would happen later on in the book.

As I examined the revealed personalities of the characters, I have noticed quite a few positives that look as if they promise high hopes for the novel ahead. Santiago, who is the only revealed character at this point is an aspiring explorer; being a shepherd, he like to take his sheep on great journeys and discover what the world had to offer him. He ends up meeting a girl who he seems to take great interest in. They socialized for a short amount of time, and then he had to leave. Considering this girl had underestimated the limits of his abilities by daring to think he could not read just because he was a shepherd, he still took no notice to it and conversed with her nonetheless. Typically, no character in a novel would ever be this humble, which makes this situation particularly special.

From this situation, I can already make an implicit prediction about the events that may occur further on in the novel. Since Santiago loves 'this girl' with all his heart, but is a shepherd, he will likely end up having to travel around the world searching for his true love, of whom he regretfully left behind. He will encounter many lethal dangers along the way such as snowstorms, tsunamis and even hurricanes, but he would endure it all just to find her again. However, it would all eventually be too much, and he would be killed by one of these disasters, in time. His funeral would then be held after his body was located, and that girl, whom he died searching for was at the funeral. I myself am not normally a person who enjoys love stories, but this one coped with just the right amount of action would be perfect, if it were what the book was about.