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"The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. And all of his creations.<br />
Might be a great inspiration for a 12-year old kid who has never had a chance to read a real book before, but I remember being shocked by the pointlessness and overall naivity of this pseudo-intellectual gibberish, along with the highly irritating style of his narration...and I was 12 at the time, too. Have never finished reading this hogwash, I felt that it was too childhish, or written by someone who is constantly high.<br />
And I used to read a lot in my early teenage years: Julius Verne, Bulhakov, Jostein Gaarder, Stephen King, Agatha Christie, etc.<br />
The best way to put it would be "so banal it hurts". It's a perfect example of a "the sun rises, and then the sun sets" or "fire is hot, but water is wet" type of book.<br />
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Some amazingly deep quotes from this vastly touching piece of art, to give you a taste:<br />
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<i>“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.” <br />
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“No project is completed until its objective has been achieved.” <br />
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“Not everyone can see his dreams come true in the same way.” <br />
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“And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better.” <br />
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“Nobody is worth your tears, and the one who is won't make you cry” <br />
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“So, I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you.” <br />
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“This is what we call love. When you are loved, you can do anything in creation. When you are loved, there's no need at all to understand what's happening, because everything happens within you.” <br />
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“Sometimes there's just no way to hold back the river.”<br />
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“We are afraid of losing what we have.” <br />
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“To die tomorrow was no worse than dying on any other day. Every day was there to be lived or to mark one’s departure from this world.”<br />
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“When you possess great treasures within you and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed.” <br />
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“One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.”<br />
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"I have been told that beauty is the great seducer of men.” </i><br />
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Ready to vomit? Yes, these are real quotes from the book.<br />
And that's just the tip of the wisdom iceberg.<br />
Basically every single page consists of these deeply touching and eye-opening ultra powerful life-changing pieces of wisdom along the lines of "The Boy discovered that the sand was dry on the desert, and indeed, The Universe can be vast and big, and The Soul of The World and the Warriors of Light can realize their dreams on this planet. There's no need to speak when there's no one around. The boy remembered that the sky is blue and followed his dream."<br />
Ok, these last three sentences were my take on his writing style, but basically this is how painful it is to read.<br />
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To be fair, there are also some valuable quotes in the book, for instance:<br />
<i>“What's the world's greatest lie?" the boy asked, completely surprised.<br />
"It's this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie.” </i><br />
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But those few good fragments can't change the fact that overall, it sucks.<br />
It's better to just look for the quotes on the internet than wasting your time by trying to go through this book. Unless you are a masochist, or need somebody to tell you that happiness feels happy and that some people can be sad.
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</blockquote>I agree with The Alchemist, I normally finish all the books I start but this one is one of the few I couldnt finish even though is not a long book.</div>
