Demerits:
1. The narration could have been in much more detail. There are few passages that end all of a sudden, like the scene of war between the tribes. Also the thread of the merchant's girl whom he liked remained loose.
2. I know it's an allegorical story but still it should maintain the extent of allegories that would have been believable. Someone directly talking to the wind, to the sun and asking if they know what is love; mentioning 'personal hardship', and 'personal legacy' in every passage do not make the plot deep. You can't just write anything.
3. The most important demerit is on the concept of spirituality vs materiality. This story is clearly inspired by the 'Bhagavad Gita' that is against the instinct of 'greed'. But in the story we can see that Santiago, though followed his destiny, gathered alot of experiences, knew himself but left everything he loved. It is because deep inside he had the greed for the material treasure. At a certain point of time even though he wanted to go back, his appetite for the treasure hold him back. All the time he claimed that he was gradually knowing the Soul of the World. But greed itself is the thing that destroys one's soul. And he always had the greed for that treasure. Gaining spirituality through materialistic pleasure! I'm a bit confused here.
4. The way this book tells you to follow your heart so bad to reach your destiny that you would have to leave everything behind, not even caring about your loved ones. This is something i didn't like at all. The notion of 'following your heart' is often bad.
Merits:
1. As a mysterious, allegorical adventure story, it's good. You can vividly imagine each and every scene. As if everything is happening right in front of your eyes.
2. The language is lucid, simple and easily understandable.
3. There are many ideologies taken from the 'Bhagavad Gita'. The way Paulo Coelho presented the concept of 'Param Brahma' or the higher consciousness through 'the soul of the world' is very good. Also the conversation of the alchemist and Santiago seemed like the conversation of Krishna and Arjun depicting the Karma Yoga. The concept of fear being the enemy in the path of success was good enough as well.
As an inspirational story it's good, delineating one's Karma, destiny and God being always by the side. I would recommend this book to whom who are facing existential crisis, finding the meaning of life within themselves. Also if you want some unrealistic inspiration and some escape from the reality, good for you. But people who are realistic like me, don't go for it. It's just a self help book. Apart from that you can get nothing out of it. Feeling sorry for those people who have given it 5 stars. They haven't read actual good books yet. ๐