First of all, you might think that this week is the best time to write something melancholic about leaving high school and such. Yes, it certainly is; but not now. Don't get me wrong, I'm overwhelmed by all these emotions. These 3 years have been wonderful and magical, to say the very least. High school has really left a deep, precious mark on me. Therefore, I promise that I will write something profound and touching, in tune with the current atmosphere. I may not be Chairil Anwar or Maya Angelou or Oprah; but yes, I can try to do something "real". Just you wait and read.
Having said that, we can get down to the topic. I just finished reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, and (un)surprisingly I was somewhat enlightened. I can't wait to share my views on it. I know, it's kinda too late and you might think "why on earth is this guy talking about The Alchemist at this time of the century?"; but as I said before, this is my blog. So, fire on!
The first thing I realized when I started was that the language style is simple, yet still beautiful. There's no intricate sentences that you have to read over and over just to get its meaning. Everything is told as it is. That doesn't mean that it's bland, but the book is a simple satisfying feast for your soul. To quote my friend Amanda Jana Shalvian, "there's a lot of great quotes".
The story is, well, the very core of the book and its incredible popularity. The story of a shepherd who decided to follow his "destiny" is very deep, thought-provoking, heartwarming, and much more. The book takes on spirituality without approving or disapproving one religion, although it uses Christianity and Islam to convey its message.
I, for one, has been positively affected by The Alchemist. I'll share one of my recent "realization"s. A few days ago when I was in my English course, we were doing a writing practice. I did my writing (for which I was very satisfied), and gave it to my teacher, who then checked and reviewed it. After doing so, as usual she writes some kind of encouragement like "well written" or "well done". That time, she wrote "you have the potential to write a book", which she completed by saying "I didn't say that you should be an author because you obviously want to be a doctor, but you can still write a book if you want to."
At that time, I hadn't read The Alchemist. I was very happy but nothing deeper than that. Now that I've read the book, I just realized that there are numerous paths in this life I can choose. What my teacher said is a reminder that I have something else. It's not impossible that I'll be a doctor-slash-writer. Hello, I regularly ramble about anything I could think of in my blog. As incessant as it may be, it is surely a way to develop writing skills because writing skill doesn't necessarily mean "great writing in a geeky, poetic style". Ellen DeGeneres's hilarious monologues are written by writers, so are newspapers (well, duh!); there are so many kinds of writer.
See that? I recommend the book to everyone as in every people in this whole freaking planet.
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