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partytown_usa t1_jduau45 wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in This sub's most popular posts regarding Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist are negative... I loved it! by benspaperclip

Agree. If you enjoyed The Alchemist's themes about fate, determinism, life purpose, etc, then I'd recommend reading Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow next. It's a more nuanced and challenging perspective on those same concepts.

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TheGoldenDog t1_jdum9jl wrote

If you liked The Alchemist try Gravity's Rainbow? Surely you're joking?!

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raelrok t1_jdunfnz wrote

If you like making paper airplanes, you should try making a V2 rocket!

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I-am-an-onion123 t1_jdunuxw wrote

If you're struggling with gravitys rainbow then you can do some supplementary reading on it while you're reading it, maybe summaries and analysis online or such. I understand why it can be a struggle for some but if you put in the effort it's very readable. Everyone can read it with this in mind.

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raelrok t1_jdv1gl3 wrote

I did really enjoy it. I read it across a 6 month period with a few breaks between putting it down and picking it back up.

It is a book where the reader can suffer from missing context due to their (lack of) knowledge of the period, but I managed to struggle through with the help of Wikipedia where things got murky.

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Umbrella_Viking t1_jdv8w2p wrote

I’ve read both. The Alchemist is fine.

It’s funny everyone around here trashes a book for being simplistic in its message then go on to praise To Kill a Mockingbird as though that author doesn’t hit you with themes using a cudgel.

The message doesn’t have to be hidden and esoteric and require a companion manual (Weisenberger’s Gravity’s Rainbow companion is excellent - I dare say it’s a must or the multiple references per page fly over your head) to understand.

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