The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Fiction

I really tried to like this book and I had heard a lot of good things about it. In an interview with the New York Times even Malala Yousafzai had said that it was her favorite book. As in Malala Yousafzai, winner of the Nobel Prize. Despite all this, frankly I was sort of disappointed.

            The Alchemist is about a boy named Santiago who leaves his life as a shepherd to try to look for treasure at the urging of a king. Through his journey, Santiago learns the importance of following one’s “Personal Legend.” Coelho talks about one’s “Personal Legend” a lot in the book which he describes as what one’s soul was meant to do. While traveling, Santiago finds a beautiful woman named Fatima. Santiago is tempted to stay with Fatima and stop looking for his treasure, but he eventually decides that he will go and come back for her, because not even love should stop him. Fatima contradicts Coelho’s belief in everyone having a “Personal Legend.” Fatima doesn’t seem to have a “Personal Legend” because the only thing she does during The Alchemist is wait for Santiago to fulfill his “Personal Legend” or she urges him to fulfill his “Personal Legend.” Fatima’s only purpose in the book is to serve Santiago so either that means that 1.) her Personal Legend is to serve Santiago or 2.) she hasn’t realized her Personal Legend yet. Both of these interpretations are problematic and the “woman as muse” or “woman as stay-at-home help meet” are familiar - and terribly annoying -- stereotypes.

If it is scenario 1.) her Personal Legend is to serve Santiago, Coelho contributes to a sexist belief that women were made to serve the men in their lives. This idea takes away Fatima’s autonomy as a person and her ability to make decisions for herself. Given that Fatima is one of the very few women in the novel (the other two being “Baker’s Daughter” and “Tricky Gypsy”), this means that Coelho is implicitly saying that women should be given a sort of second class status without their own personal struggles. But let’s say for the sake of argument that Coelho didn’t mean for Fatima’s “Personal Legend” to be to serve Santiago or for Fatima to be an individual at all.  Maybe he meant for them to be a metaphor for love or devotion so that Fatima-Santiago are actually mirror images of each other and one could just have easily been the other (i.e. Fatima could be the one on the quest and Santiago would be waiting at home for her to return).  That seem far-fetched and it also seems like a less than ideal version of a love story.

If it is scenario 2.) she hasn’t realized her “Personal Legend” yet, Santiago is really exploiting their relationship. Santiago knows how important it is for one to discover his “Personal Legend”, but he doesn’t urge Fatima to find hers like she urges him. Santiago doesn’t support Fatima in the ways that she supported him.  On the contrary, he keeps her dependent on him, waiting for him to return so that she is essentially trapped and even less likely to find her “Personal Legend.”

I realize the book is supposed to be an inspiring fable but the tired old gender stereotypes kept me from appreciating it the way apparently millions of others did.  Go figure.

The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

Nonfiction

The Glass Castle is a memoir about the author’s experiences growing up in a poor and peculiar family. They constantly move and uproot their lives. Her dad is an alcoholic but is still faithful to the family, and he wrote a blueprint to a glass castle that he promises to someday build. Her mom is a self-proclaimed artist who is first seen digging through a Dumpster. Because of her parents’ poor choices they live in abject poverty. Her unconventional childhood results in her siblings and Jeannette sticking close together and having to fend for themselves. The book is full of alarming tales of parenting, such as the one where Jeannette is three years old and she learns to boil hot dogs by herself in their trailer. While she is standing on a chair to reach the stove, her skirt catches on fire. She is admitted to the hospital with severe burns. Her dad is disappointed because he insists that she should have seen the local Navajo witch doctor instead. After Jeannette spends six weeks in the hospital recovering, her dad breaks into the hospital, grabs her and bolts for the door, while nurses and doctors yell at him to stop. Some of the events in The Glass Castle are so comical and unbelievable that you feel a great deal of respect for the author for being able to rise above her past.

The Walls family may be unconventional, poor, and slightly eccentric, but it is never boring.

The Fellowship of the Ring

The Fellowship of the Ring  By J.R.R. Tolkien

*****5/5 stars  Fantasy

This may sound like a really boring book about people who talk in stilted accents and have odd names. I am going to tell the truth and the truth is that it is an interesting book, about oddly named people talking in stilted accents. Once you get used to the language the characters speak, it's easy to understand.

          

              The Fellowship of the Ring is about a hobbit (a very small person who loves food) named Frodo. Frodo was adopted by another hobbit named Bilbo. Bilbo owns a ring which turns him invisible when he puts it on. Eventually Bilbo leaves and Frodo becomes in charge of the ring. Frodo eventually discovers that the ring is dangerous and must be destroyed. The only way to do that is to go to Mordor, where evil creatures rule, and cast the ring into a fiery pit by Mt. Doom. So Frodo sets off, determined to bring the ring to Mordor and to end all evil.

            This book reminds me of Norse mythology and Harry Potter. The names sound Nordic and some characters in The Lord of the Rings are similar to the characters in Norse mythology. Lord of the Rings reminds me of Harry Potter because a lot of the events and characters are almost the same in both stories. (Yes, I know that Lord of the Rings was written first).

Silverwing

Silverwing  By Kenneth Oppel

***** 5/5 stars  Fantasy
When Shade, a Silverwing bat, is migrating south with his colony, he is swept away during a storm. He then embarks on a journey to find his colony again. On the journey, he encounters and discovers many things that amaze and surprise him, including the Promise that bats may be able to fly during the day. This book reminds me of The Wizard of Oz because both Shade and Dorothy are trying to get home. They both have interesting companions and they encounter things that they didn't think existed. Shade's cleverness and resourcefulness helps him through obstacles that try to prevent him from returning home. Though, like Dorothy, Shade eventually makes his way back home.

The Lost Hero

The Lost Hero  By Rick Riordan

**** 4/5 stars Fantasy

I gave this book four stars because I didn't like how it was written. The plot was good and it was funny but it would have been better if Rick Riordan wrote it better.  The writing seemed forced to make the story interesting and funny. It is about 3 kids, Piper, Leo, and Jason. They  are half-bloods. Half- bloods are half-Greek god and half-human. Piper, Leo, and Jason are sent on a quest together to free the goddess, Hera. With hardly any experience, it seems unlikely that they will survive.

The Kneebone Boy

The Kneebone Boy By Ellen Potter
***** 5/5 stars  Fiction

This book is non-stop-action. When the Hardscrabble children are unknowingly sent to stay with an aunt who is away on vacation they decide to stay at great-aunt's house instead. At their great-aunt's house they embark on an adventure concerning a creature who is half-boy and half-animal. This book is very exhilarating and I could not put it down.

Rangers Apprentice:The Ruins of Gorlan

Rangers Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan  By John Flanagan

*****5/5 stars  Fantasy

I really, really liked this book. It was exciting and I also like archery which this book is chocked full of. Will (the main character in this book) is chosen as an apprentice to a Ranger. Will doesn't know much about Rangers and he doesn't want to be one at first. It is exciting to be a Ranger though strange things are happening.

The City of Ember

 The City of Ember   By Jeanne DuPrau

 ***** 5/5 stars      Science Fiction

This book was very interesting. It is about Ember, a city that was built by a group of people called the Builders. Ember does not have a sun and the citizens are supplied with everything they need. But they are running out of supplies. In Ember, there are often blackouts and shortages on almost everything. Lina, a 12 year old girl finds a box. In it are instructions to something. She does not know what it is for because her little sister chewed the paper with the instructions on it. She asks a boy name Doon to help her find out what was on the paper.  The book was very intriguing because it was interesting to see what it would be like to live in Ember.