While The Alchemist is a beautiful and extraordinarily optimistic tale, it isn't very well written, but that's not to say the it isn't a good book. It's a strong story related to the reader by the omniscient narrator, told in a way reminiscent of fairy tales or spiritual texts like the Bible or Koran.

Coelho has a bad habit of writing prolix speeches for his characters. In trying to pass along his moral from each wise man who the boy encounters, the lessons are often delivered in a patronising way and can feel more like a soliloquy. Many times I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being beaten about the head with these homilies. The length of these pontifications can disrupt the flow of the story sometimes, to the point of stopping it altogether, and as a result the book can feel slightly long-winded and even faltering in places

These concerns aside, the book is both entertaining and inspirational. If you're a spiritual person you will undoubtedly feel Coelho's all-things-in-creation-linked-to-God moral very keenly. Maybe he will inspire you to follow your heart, listen to that still small voice when it tells you to follow your God's chosen path. You'll believe him when he tells you that if you are destined to do something, the Universe will conspire with the Soul of the World to help you achieve it. And just when things look their darkest, when you are furthest from your goal it will be presented to you, if you stay faithful to your path.

I found The Alchemist inspirational too, but not perhaps in the way the author intended. I didn't have a spiritual re-emergence, nor a swelling of faith; I didn't come to believe that I have a preordained path or journey, that I am destined to take, nor that the Universe would help me to successfully complete my journeys through life. I was inspired to begin writing my novel again, after a long hiatus. I realised that as long as you have an interesting and entertaining story to tell, and you tell it well, your technical ability to write that story isn't as important. It's the journey, after-all, that makes it all worthwhile.