The Alchemist, brilliant book. For months, I could not even compare it to other books. I loved it intensely. I still hold it dear.
I visited Pakistan, and for a cheap price, I bought all of the book he had written. One by one, I read one, then the other.

Sigh, Veronica decides to die, wasn?t that bad. It ventured in some new areas, I was impressed. I liked. But sometimes, it was pure perverse, and his idea of writing something , which others see as " art " I found hard to swallow.
But it was good, not as closely matched to the alchemist, of course.

Sigh, I sat down by the river piedra and cried.
Hmmm a very good start, .... but ended up being very strange, he got mixed up with his emotions of spirituality, and those strange clans of Christians, just totally lost the plot for me. but I admire his faith, I do :)
So she gains her love again. Great. But Paulo, has no idea how the female mind works, or if he does, I did not believe it. sigh.

Sigh, and so forth. These were the only books worth mentioning, Paulo has really gotten deep into his real passion, " spirituality", "mysticism" and the Unknown.

I have to say, though, being a big fan of his first hit book, all my love was easily lost.

His books lack the depth, the originality, that the alchemist had ( come back to this later ). His true call is shown in all his new books, 11 mins etc. He loves analysing and writing about the human conditions.
Great. he is good at that. But just that. He has not been able to write humbly, though, about anything since the boy who slept with his sheep in tile-less church.

Now lets analyse, why the Alchemist is a mystery compared to his other books.
Firstly, has anyone read the 10th Anniversary of the Alchemist? They have changed all instances of the word " Destiny " to " personal Legend" . ABSURD. absolutely ruined the book for me the second time around. Was he trying to be original ? yes he was. Because the alchemist is not his book.

To those familiar with the name Antoine de saint exupery, you will know he wrote the children?s classic " The Little Prince". Worldly, renowned for its sadistic tone, but simple powerful motions in a line. Antoine, was a pilot, a true 20th century man. A French, who let his love for flying take over his life. He become obsessed with flying. He become more and more alone , with time, not finding love ( like fatimas love ). In and out of depression, he would fly at nights, watching the stars over his hometown in France. It was during these years, that he faced many adventures. On several occasions, his plane crashed. He was a mail plane man for the first international fly mail services. So he would fly, from continent to continent. As a result, he flew over desert land countless times, noticeable the South American and Arabian deserts.
On one of his near death adventures, he was lost in the desert, when recovered from this reality, he wrote the Little Prince. A story about his life, but from a Childs point of view. Instantly a wonder. Everyone loved it.

My favourite quote has to be " Sunsets are terribly beautiful when one is sad ".

With his life, he become older, and more secluded. More and more of a hermit. But a writer, what a hell of a writer. His most famous experience was when he landed in an Arabian desert, at night, well he crashed. And with that speed, it was a miracle is plane did not burn and explode. The was to be the first miracle of this unbelievable story. Over the next couple of days , Antoine wrote to us, his memoirs of those moments. He slept covered in sand, he drank the planes oil. Out of thirst.
At night he froze, only to be burnt by the morning and afternoon sun.

As time went by, more and more thirsty, dehydrated. He loses hope for life. And the story goes on. I strongly recommend this book.
But in this story, with his pain he writes of the beauty of life. The very last chapter, dedicated to Mozart, we see how humble, how human, how loving he is. We see what each of us should have, we see the love he wanted, but never obtained. Through his pain, we see the beauty of the desert, of the night sky, of the mystics of the desert, of the horsemen with cloaks flying on sand.

Soon after, he was deemed unfit to fly. By this time, WWII had begun. using contacts in the army, he managed to fly again. But on one flight, he never returned. He was never seen again, he disappeared. Old and alone, his plane crashed. And it is believed, his plane was found 2 years ago, but his body. Allah knows.

So this man leaves, but he leaves us with the desert.
I believe, very much so, that Paulo Coelho, has read and worshipped ( not in a haram way ), Exupery's words. And I don?t blame him, after you read this book, no one can ever image the desert to be the same again.

The Alchemist, over and over again uses the images from the book " Wind, Sand and Stars " ( the book ive been talking about ). His imager is so perfectly identical to Wind, Sand and stars that this no coincidence. I practically lost faith in authors after I finished this book, how could Paulo not acknowledge a book which has the same essence as the Alchemists.

I am sorry, if this was too long. I got lost, somewhere.
I absolutely do not wish to discredit Coelho, but I believe credit is deserved to the pilot, Antoine De Saint Exupery.

..............

I believe this is why, Paulo Coelho has not been able to write such a book again. However, not many agree.
It is true, his books sell a lot. 62 million of his new book I hear. mash Allah. But that audience, I suppose has not read Wind sand and stars? impossible. They, regardless, love Paulo. I am happy for him.

But for me a person, I think Paulo has talent, but his talent was for me only in the Alchemist.

God bless, both writers. For they have touched so many millions of lives.

Afaq.

Wind, Sand and Stars. www.amazon.co.uk