I recently finished The Alchemist for the first time. I thought it was good. Straightforward and entertaining (imo). I thought that would be the general opinion of people about the Alchemist and that Coelho is revered by book readers. But I was honestly surprised to find out majority of the readers don’t like his work and think of him as a ‘mediocre’ writer. Is there something I don’t know? Why isn’t he highly esteemed amongst bibliophiles like I thought he was?
P.S. I also think that the writing in Alchemist could’ve been better, but I liked the story.
I have a theory that the first Paulo Coelho book you read is great. The second one you read is okay, but not as good as the first one. And then on the third book, you realize everything he writes is basically the same book with only slight variations in the pseudo-spiritual drivel.