Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - The Alchemist

Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

31 reviews

maresuju's review against another edition

Pretty early in the book, the MC has an interaction with a woman who might be Romani (he says that she reminds him of stories of Romani people). This section is filled with racial slurs and harmful stereotypes. The MC is immediately afraid of this woman and accuses her of tricking/cheating him, with no real explanation to the reader. His internal dialogue is pretty gross during this part, too, as he clearly doesn’t think this woman has any knowledge or understanding of the world. This might be a way for him to learn about his own prejudices, I don’t know. But there was nothing in the section indicating that, and what’s portrayed is a harmful and dangerous view of Romani people. This immediately made the book a DNF for me.

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madscanread's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Formatted like a classic fable, this short novel focuses on an individual’s purpose in life while simultaneously discussing the interconnectivity of all things. Like any classic, the plot is infuriatingly circular.

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avenclov's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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libraryfrog's review against another edition

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2.5

Well, this book felt like a waste of time… I can kind of see how some people might really like it, like in the way some people really like pop psychology self help books? But it felt uncomfortably racist and sexist to me and the plot was pretty boring and every other sentence sounds like someone trying to be profound and failing to say anything original at all.

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poirot's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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melodyseestrees's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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meganpbennett's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

After seeing this book pop up multiple times in a short period of time, I decided to give it a try, as I needed a short book to read, one that I could finish before a book list reading challenge started at my library on September 01st.

It was difficult to follow, and the main characters having no names did not help matters. The boy isn't a particularly lovable main character, and he's naive enough that it stops being a good thing and becomes a slog. For such a short book with so much travel, nothing really happens. The boy learns a lot of things, but I felt like I was missing half of the story.

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callmebella's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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sxrxh_lenx's review against another edition

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Ladies, gentlemen and everyone in between, I thought this would be a good book….mostly Christian propaganda (for some nothing bad that their god is the answer for everything) considering that it also includes manifestation it’s weird and naive….for me a hellenic pagan definitely not

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puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

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