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    Summary and Analysis of The Alchemist: Based on the Book by Paulo Coehlo
    Summary and Analysis of The Alchemist: Based on the Book by Paulo Coehlo
    Summary and Analysis of The Alchemist: Based on the Book by Paulo Coehlo
    Ebook36 pages24 minutes

    Summary and Analysis of The Alchemist: Based on the Book by Paulo Coehlo

    By Worth Books

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    About this ebook

    So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of The Alchemist tells you what you need to know—before or after you read Paulo Coelho’s book.
     
    Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader.
     
    This short summary and analysis of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho includes:
     
    • Historical context
    • Part-by-part summaries
    • Analysis of the main characters
    • Themes and symbols
    • Important quotes
    • Fascinating trivia
    • Glossary of terms
    • Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work
     
    About The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho:
     
    A beloved international bestseller, The Alchemist has enchanted and inspired readers for generations.
     
    Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd, is content to spend his days tending his sheep, but when he begins having recurring dreams about finding treasure at the base of the Egyptian pyramids, he understands that he must leave the comforts of home to follow his heart and live his destiny. Along the way, he meets many people who help him in his journey and he learns to interpret the omens that guide him on his path to self-discovery.
     
    Combining mysticism, legends, dreams, history, and adventure, The Alchemist is much more than a story about a man’s search for treasure—it is a fable about destiny, finding one’s path in life, and pursuing it wholeheartedly.
     
    The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of fiction.
     
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateDec 13, 2016
    ISBN9781504043359
    Summary and Analysis of The Alchemist: Based on the Book by Paulo Coehlo
    Author

    Worth Books

    Worth Books’ smart summaries get straight to the point and provide essential tools to help you be an informed reader in a busy world, whether you’re browsing for new discoveries, managing your to-read list for work or school, or simply deepening your knowledge. Available for fiction and nonfiction titles, these are the book summaries that are worth your time.  

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      Book preview

      Summary and Analysis of The Alchemist - Worth Books

      Contents

      Context

      Overview

      Cast of Characters

      Summary

      Character Analysis

      Themes and Symbols

      Direct Quotes and Analysis

      Trivia

      What’s That Word?

      Critical Response

      About Paulo Coelho

      For Your Information

      Bibliography

      Copyright

      Context

      Though it is now a record-breaking international bestseller, The Alchemist was not originally a commercial success. After a small print run of 900 copies in Brazil in 1988, the book went largely unnoticed. Confident his fable about following your dream, would find an audience, author Paulo Coelho found a second publisher in Brazil who took a chance on reissuing the work. The momentum started to build when a French edition became a bestseller in the early 1990s.

      In 1994, HarperSanFrancisco, a division of HarperCollins, was known for publishing books on spirituality, religion, wisdom, and personal growth. It was this editorial team that first published Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist in the United States—and the rest is literary history. There were other bestsellers that year that fell into the category of inspirational new age fiction, such as The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield and Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan—none of which had the staying power The Alchemist had.

      The book has been translated into 80 different languages, and has been on the New York Times bestseller list for more than 300 weeks. More than 65 million copies of this extraordinary novel have been sold around the world.

      Filled with spiritual and philosophical references, readers of all ages find solace and inspiration in the allegory’s message: Find your path in life and pursue it with all your heart.

      Overview

      The Alchemist is a classic hero’s journey: An Andalusian shepherd boy has a recurring dream

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