Day 55- Book Review

upon Leng's request, i'm gg to write a book review today

Basically this only for your benefit since you said u didn't understd much and wanted my interpretation:

thoughts on THE ALCHEMIST

this book is written extremely beautifully. the script is simple but the essence of it....poetic, illuminating. We already talked abt this and i feel that the reason that i was awashed with reflections while you felt lost was because i linked parts of the book with my own life, my own experiences. I thought that it's also best to just focus on a few paragraphs that are more important.

1. "It's true that everything has its Personal Legend, but one day that Personal Legend will be realized. so each thing has to transform itself into something better, and to acquire a new Personal Legend, until, someday, the Soul of the World becomes one thing only..........That's why alchemy exists....lead will play its role until the world has no further need for lead; and then lead will have to turn itself into gold."

I liked this paragraph because it talks abt progress, and that translates into hope. Hope for a better future. Before reading this book, I thought alchemy was hogwash, i thought of mad scientists giving up their lives just to persue sth that was impossible. But this book gave a brand new meaning to Alchemy.


2. "When I first reached through to it, I thought the Soul of the World was perfect. But later, I could see that it was like other aspects of creation, and had its own passions and wars. It is we who nourish the Soul of the World, and the world we line in will be either better or worse, depending on whether we become better or worse. And that's where the power of love comes in. Because when we love, we always strive to become better than we are."

This one underscores the meaning of our lives. It's not abt love in the romantic sense, but more of humanely love, all-encompassing kind. We all leave behind a legacy that exceeds our lifetime. It doesn't have to be a legacy that you have to be aware of, doesn't have to be something great........but we all leave behind an imprint on this Earth, this Universe. And it makes you want to leave behind as positive an impression as possible.

3. "Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is. At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. they are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend...." and "We, people's hearts, seldom say much abt those treasures bcos ppl no longer want to go in search of them. We speak of them only to children. Later, we simply let life proceed, in its own direction, toward its own fate. But unfortunately, very few follow the path laid out for them- the parth to their Personal Legends, and to happiness.......So we, their hearts, speak more and more softly. We never stop speaking out, but we begin to hope that our words won't be heard: we don't want people to suffer because they don't follow their hearts."

I was worried when I read till this part because it reminded me of my own Personal Legend. I thought abt what I wanted to study (you know what)......but I kept it buried in my heart. I still think of it sometimes and i still cling on to the hope of fulfilling it one day. But I'm worried that my heart will "speak softer and softer".......I want to be like the boy who told his heart to sound the alarm if he was "off-course" and swore that he'd heed the alarm bells if it rang. The "mysterious force" is not so "mysterious" afterall to me, it takes the form of family commitments, financial problems, fear of the unknown etc. But apart from all that, I felt the author was creative enough in his approach on the subject. He had approached it from the heart's perspective. It's like there's a little voice calling out inside you and many ppl just blanket it out, that's when our lives fail to have a meaning, we lose track of our Personal Legends.

See, I singled out these paragraphs because they were related to me. But there r others too, like how the boy speaks to his heart, how he cleverly improves the business at the crystal merchant's, the story told by the king abt the spoon of oil, how the boy was told to observe the omens, how he spoke the Language of the Universe in a foreign land......all of it is touching in itself.

But gal, you also don't hv to read too deep into the story la......along the way i was enjoying the scenery too.....like i loved how they called the wind "levanter", and how the shepherd boy came from a country called "Andalusia", all the beautiful names. Remember "Maktub"-- the most beautiful things in life are not seen, heard or spoken but felt by the heart.


thoughts on AMERICAN GODS


thoughts on ANANSI BOYS


(I'll do them later......)