From Publishers Weekly
This inspirational fable by Brazilian author and translator Coelho has been a runaway bestseller throughout Latin America and seems poised to achieve the same prominence here. The charming tale of Santiago, a shepherd boy, who dreams of seeing the world, is compelling in its own right, but gains resonance through the many lessons Santiago learns during his adventures. He journeys from Spain to Morocco in search of worldly success, and eventually to Egypt, where a fateful encounter with an alchemist brings him at last to self-understanding and spiritual enlightenment. The story has the comic charm, dramatic tension and psychological intensity of a fairy tale, but it's full of specific wisdom as well, about becoming self-empowered, overcoming depression, and believing in dreams. The cumulative effect is like hearing a wonderful bedtime story from an inspirational psychiatrist. Comparisons to The Little Prince are appropriate; this is a sweetly exotic tale for young and old alike.

thanks for sending this to me, Flakes! Believe it or not, I read The Little Prince about a dozen books ago, so it should be interesting to see the comparisons. I will write another journal entry as soon as I'm finished reading this!

This definitely was inspirational..if only everyone in the world had a king to tell them how to live their life! Very eye-opening... even if you only read the three page intro! I wasn't really impressed with the "treasure" at the end though... I won't say anything more about it to ruin it, but I think Santiago's life should have been valued more than the material/money value through out...

edited to add: I guess it just didn't wow me completely because it was pretty much a fairy tale.. and real life isn't a fairy tale...

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to guinaveve! Enjoy!

This looks great! I am looking forward to reading it and happy I can mark it off my wish list. Thanks.

I really didn't enjoy this much acclaimed book. The moral of the story was too "in your face" for me. I felt like I was reading a self help book which is not something I am at all interested in. I think the simple story would have been wonderful had it just been a story the reader could draw their own conclusions from instead of the constant preachy feel.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

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