The Risky Journal

Book Cover   Relieving. This one word may best describe what I feel about Paulo Coelho’s latest novel, Manuscript Found in Accra. Coelho has once again captivated my heart though his writings. I came across Coelho’s works unintentionally. I still vividly remember an American woman giving her copy of the Alchemist to me when we flew together to US in 2011. Through that book, I came to the marvelous works of Coelho. Manuscript Found in Accra tells about a story happening in Jerusalem in 1099. One night, the townspeople are engulfed in fear as the crusaders are about to attack the city, which is regarded as a holy city to Jewish, Christians and Muslims alike. The townspeople, regardless the difference of age, gender and religion, gather in a corner of the town. Suddenly, an unknown man, called himself as the Copt, appears out of nowhere. He then spreads his wisdoms to the townspeople who ask him about life, death, love, fear and any thinkable human’s life aspects.  ...

It's not usual for me to give a review of a book. But let me try hahaha ... It's a novel! It is entitled The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. First of all, I would like to tell you as to how I come across this novel. I did not intentionally want to have this novel. It was given to me by an American woman sitting next to me when I flew from Japan to United States of America. She is a teacher, English teacher, at Korea. We had a nice conversations and she was excited to know that I was an American Studies student, a department that she once wanted to enroll in. In the middle of flight she asked whether I like reading or not, then I said 'yes i do'. She then gave a novel by Paulo Coelho entitled 'The Alchemist'. She completed reading the novel for its ninth time, so she said. She told me how good the novel was. Well, frankly I am not a fan of novel reading. But then, I started reading this novel a couple of months after I was done with all of my thesis and graduation ...