THE ALCHEMIST: A Fable About Following Your Dreams
Paulo Coelho, Author, Jeremy Irons, Read by , read by Jeremy Irons. Harper Audio $24 (0p) ISBN 978-0-694-52447-1
Brazilian writer Coelho has published five titles in 45 languages in 120 countries, and has sold 23 million books. It's easy to see why. This charming, simple and well-written allegory tells of a boy, Santiago, who has the imagination and courage to follow his "Personal Legend." Santiago finds fairy godfathers at many turns who help him learn to keep up his courage, and to read omens and his own heart. The book's inspirational message—follow your heart and do your own thing—is oblique enough, to allow readers to interpret it in any way they choose, with whatever degree and form of spirituality one adheres to: "To realize one's destiny is a person's only obligation." But apparently only men need apply; a woman's destiny is to wait for her hero to find his treasure and return home to her. The real treasure here is Jeremy Irons. His intriguing, subtle and powerful performance carries us along on the boy's adventures, into his confusions and insights, through discussions with kings and animals, through the desert and the sun and even through the philosophical passages.
Reviewed on: 07/02/2001
Release date: 04/01/2001
Genre: Audio
Paperback - 197 pages - 9780061122415
Prebound-Sewn - 197 pages - 9780756972714
Prebound-Glued - 197 pages - 9781417753321
Mass Market Paperbound - 208 pages - 9780061881916
Hardcover - 207 pages - 9780783811956
Paperback - 213 pages - 9789571341712
Hardcover - 217 pages - 9787544244190
Paperback - 199 pages - 9784042750017
Paperback - 177 pages - 9780722532935
Hardcover - 278 pages - 9788982814471
Hardcover - 177 pages - 9780007233670
Paperback - 197 pages - 9780060834838
Hardcover - 178 pages - 9780060887964