Each character points Santiago in the direction of his quest. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king (is he really a king? who should he believe?), a man who claims to be an alchemist (is he really an alchemist who can turn metal to gold?) and then a real alchemist who doesn’t brag at all. Our main character is thoughtful beyond his years but also a child subject to being impressionable. He follows his dreams, literally, a well as “signs” from his environment. He is both a simple sheep herder and an ambitious explorer. An Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids. The style reads simply yet contains powerful emotions, interesting and deep characters, plots twists and inspiring wisdom. They embark on a journey in the company of fascinating fellow travelers, each of whom has a story to tell, and each of whom will undergo a transformation, changing their priorities and values, along the way.Īs they travel together, Paulo and Karla explore their own relationship, an awakening on every level that brings each of them to a choice and a decision that sets the course for their lives thereafter.Paulo Coelho’s enchanting novel in the eclectic “magical realism” category is dazzling in many ways. She convinces Paulo to join her on a trip to Nepal, aboard the Magic Bus that travels across Europe and Central Asia to Kathmandu. His travels take him further, to the famous square in Amsterdam, where Paulo meets Karla, a Dutch woman also in her 20s.

He sets off on a journey in search of freedom and a deeper meaning for his life: first, with a girlfriend, on the famous “Death Train to Bolivia,” then on to Peru and later hitchhiking through Chile and Argentina. They were a generation refusing to live the robotic and unquestioning life that their parents had known.Īt this time, Paulo is a young, skinny Brazilian with a goatee and long, flowing hair who wants to become a writer. In the Dam Square in Amsterdam, long-haired young people wearing vibrant clothes and burning incense could be found meditating, playing music and discussing sexual liberation, the expansion of consciousness and the search for an inner truth.

In Hippie, his most autobiographical novel to date, Paulo Coelho takes us back in time to re-live the dream of a generation that longed for peace and dared to challenge the established social order – authoritarian politics, conservative modes of behavior, excessive consumerism, and an unbalanced concentration of wealth and power.įollowing the “three days of peace and music” at Woodstock, the 1969 gathering in Bethel, NY that would change the world forever, hippie paradises began to emerge all around the world.

Hippie paulo coelho summary