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Summary
Summary
From the #1 best-selling author of The Alchemist comes an inspiring story about a young man seeking wisdom from an elder, and the practical lessons imparted along the way. Includes stunning illustrations by Christoph Niemann.
"A novelist who writes in a universal language." -- The New York Times
In The Archer we meet Tetsuya, a man once famous for his prodigious gift with a bow and arrow but who has since retired from public life, and the boy who comes searching for him. The boy has many questions, and in answering them Tetsuya illustrates the way of the bow and the tenets of a meaningful life. Paulo Coelho's story suggests that living without a connection between action and soul cannot fulfill, that a life constricted by fear of rejection or failure is not a life worth living. Instead one must take risks, build courage, and embrace the unexpected journey fate has to offer.
With the wisdom, generosity, simplicity, and grace that have made him an international best seller, Paulo Coelho provides the framework for a rewarding life: hard work, passion, purpose, thoughtfulness, the willingness to fail, and the urge to make a difference.
Author Notes
Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 24, 1947. As a teenager, he wanted to become a writer, but his parents wanted him to pursue a more substantial and secure career. At the age of 17, his introversion and opposition to his parents led them to commit him to a mental institution. He escaped three times before being released at the age of 20. Once released, he abandoned his ideas of becoming a writer and enrolled in law school to please his parents. He stayed in law school for one year.
In 1986, Coelho walked the 500-plus mile Road of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, a turning point in his life. On the path, he had a spiritual awakening, which he described in his book The Pilgrimage.
Before becoming a full-time author, he worked as theatre director and actor, lyricist, and journalist. He wrote song lyrics for many famous performers in Brazilian music including Elis Regina, Rita Lee, and Raul Seixas. His first book, Hell Archives, was published in 1982. He has written over 25 books since then including The Alchemist, Brida, The Fifth Mountain, The Devil and Miss Prym, Eleven Minutes, The Zahir, The Witch of Portobello, Like a Flowing River, and Adultery. He received numerous awards including Las Pergolas Prize, The Budapest Prize, Nielsen Gold Book Award, and the Grand Prix Litteraire Elle. In 1996, he founded the Paulo Coelho Institute, which provides aid to children and elderly people with financial problems. In 2007, Coelho was named a Messenger of Peace to the United Nations.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Coelho (The Alchemist) returns with the jaunty story of a master archer who dispenses philosophical advice. Using a fablelike framework, Coelho spools out short chapters that are interspersed with simple but evocative artwork. The story begins as a young boy leads a stranger to the local carpenter, Tetsuya, whom the stranger claims is a master archer in hiding. The stranger requests a competition to prove he is more skilled than Tetsuya, but when Tetsuya takes his turn, he aims for his target while balancing on a rickety bridge. Tetsuya's lesson is that the stranger can not compete, because--though he performs well in ideal, controlled situations--he cannot be a master until he can also perform well under difficult, trying situations. After the stranger leaves, Tetsuya and the boy return to the carpentry shop, and Tetsuya holds forth with meditative gems meant to teach the boy the skill of archery as he himself had been taught, such as "never hold back from firing the arrow if all that paralyzes you is fear of making a mistake," and "once the arrow has been shot, there is nothing more the archer can do, except follow its path to the target." The narrative is simple, and the act of holding a bow and shooting an arrow is a fairly obvious metaphor for doing one's best and striving for excellence. Despite this, fans of Coehlo's koanlike narratives will find much to ponder. (Nov.)
Kirkus Review
In a fable about an archery guru, Coelho returns to his New Age niche. This is a loose agglomeration of half-baked philosophical principals masquerading as a novel. The plot is thin: At an indeterminate time in a place vaguely resembling Japan, a stranger comes to the village where Tetsuya, a former master archer, has chosen an anonymous existence as a carpenter. This is the classic sensei-apprentice scenario, the Karate Kid with everything removed but the aphorisms. The stranger has flushed out Tetsuya, with the mixed motives of wanting to show off his own bow-and-arrow chops and ask for pointers. Tetsuya puts the stranger's skills to the test. The stranger, the archer, and a local boy who will become his apprentice head for a rickety bridge suspended across a chasm. From this precarious perch, swaying in the wind, Tetsuya fires off a perfect hit--piercing a peach at 20 meters. But the stranger is rattled by the danger and misses. Thereby hangs a rather obvious lesson--it's important to train for difficult as well as optimal circumstances. Spoiler alert: This is the book's last action sequence, and it's only the prologue. The novel proper takes the form of Tetsuya's lectures to the boy as they return to the village. The "way of the bow" so imparted can be summed up as: We are what we continually do; find your tribe; preparation is everything; breathe; maintain elegant posture; be here now. Such tenets, of course, serve any number of disciplines. The ultimate takeaway is confusing--the thing you are best at may not be the thing you love, and you should always embrace the latter as your ultimate calling, as Tetsuya has chosen carpentry. Imagery by Niemann, the compact format, and plenty of white space make this look like an ideal gift book, but the platitudinous text is an afterthought. Check it out for the charming illustrations. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
A boy hears tales of a master archer, but the archer has long since retired and pursued carpentry instead. Still, the boy wants to learn the secrets that made the archer legendary. Thus begins internationally best-selling Coelho's (Hippie, 2018) newest tale. Read at face level, this slim volume seems to offer little beyond rudimentary instruction, but the deeper message of the archer is that mastery requires one to delve into the heart of any endeavor. More than perfect technique, it is a matter of patience, intention, hard work, and a willingness to be vulnerable. In other words, the journey is about intersecting with the soul. Evocative, brushed illustrations in black, white, and gold from Christoph Niemann don't always seem to fit the text, and Coelho's mystical, aphoristic style will not be to everyone's taste. Some readers will see deep truth in the spare sentences; others will find this allegorical tale a trite yawn. Whether this book will be a life-changer or not will depend very much on what the reader both brings to and seeks from its pages.
Library Journal Review
The next visionary work from the internationally best-selling author of The Alchemist features a boy who asks questions about the life of Tetsuya, a famous archer who has withdrawn from public life. Tetsuya uses his bow and arrow to illustrate his answers, showing that thought and action must be linked. Backlit by illustrator Niemann's art.
Excerpts
Excerpts
"Tetsuya." The boy looked at the stranger, startled. "No one in this city has ever seen Tetsuya holding a bow," he replied. "Everyone here knows him as a carpenter." "Maybe he gave up, maybe he lost his courage, that doesn't matter to me," insisted the stranger. "But he cannot be considered to be the best archer in the country if he has abandoned his art. That's why I've been traveling all these days, in order to challenge him and put an end to a reputation he no longer deserves." The boy saw there was no point in arguing; it was best to take the man to the carpenter's shop so that he could see with his own eyes that he was mistaken. Tetsuya was in the workshop at the back of his house. He turned to see who had come in, but his smile froze when his eyes fell on the long bag that the stranger was carrying. "It's exactly what you think it is," said the new arrival. "I did not come here to humiliate or to provoke the man who has become a legend. I would simply like to prove that, after all my years of practice, I have managed to reach perfection." Tetsuya made as if to resume his work: he was just putting the legs on a table. "A man who served as an example for a whole generation cannot just disappear as you did," the stranger went on. "I followed your teachings, I tried to respect the way of the bow, and I deserve to have you watch me shoot. If you do this, I will go away and I will never tell anyone where to find the greatest of all masters." The stranger drew from his bag a long bow made from varnished bamboo, with the grip slightly below center. He bowed to Tetsuya, went out into the garden, and bowed again toward a particular place. Then he took out an arrow fletched with eagle feathers, stood with his legs firmly planted on the ground, so as to have a solid base for shooting, and with one hand brought the bow in front of his face, while with the other he positioned the arrow. The boy watched with a mixture of glee and amazement. Tetsuya had now stopped working and was observing the stranger with some curiosity. With the arrow fixed to the bowstring, the stranger raised the bow so that it was level with the middle of his chest. He lifted it above his head and, as he slowly lowered his hands again, began to draw the string back. By the time the arrow was level with his face, the bow was fully drawn. For a moment that seemed to last an eternity, archer and bow remained utterly still. The boy was looking at the place where the arrow was pointing, but could see nothing. Suddenly, the hand on the string opened, the hand was pushed backward, the bow in the other hand described a graceful arc, and the arrow disappeared from view only to reappear in the distance. "Go and fetch it," said Tetsuya. The boy returned with the arrow: it had pierced a cherry, which he found on the ground, forty meters away. Tetsuya bowed to the archer, went to a corner of his workshop, and picked up what looked like a slender piece of wood, delicately curved, wrapped in a long strip of leather. He slowly unwound the leather and revealed a bow similar to the stranger's, except that it appeared to have seen far more use. "I have no arrows, so I'll need to use one of yours. I will do as you ask, but you will have to keep the promise you made, never to reveal the name of the village where I live. If anyone asks you about me, say that you went to the ends of the earth trying to find me and eventually learned that I had been bitten by a snake and had died two days later." The stranger nodded and offered him one of his arrows. Resting one end of the long bamboo bow against the wall and pressing down hard, Tetsuya strung the bow. Then, without a word, he set off toward the mountains. The stranger and the boy went with him. They walked for an hour, until they reached a large crevice between two rocks through which flowed a rushing river, which could be crossed only by means of a fraying rope bridge almost on the point of collapse. Quite calmly, Tetsuya walked to the middle of the bridge, which swayed ominously; he bowed to something on the other side, loaded the bow just as the stranger had done, lifted it up, brought it back level with his chest, and fired. The boy and the stranger saw that a ripe peach, about twenty meters away, had been pierced by the arrow. "You pierced a cherry, I pierced a peach," said Tetsuya, returning to the safety of the bank. "The cherry is smaller. You hit your target from a distance of forty meters, mine was half that. You should, therefore, be able to repeat what I have just done. Stand there in the middle of the bridge and do as I did." Terrified, the stranger made his way to the middle of the dilapidated bridge, transfixed by the sheer drop below his feet. He performed the same ritual gestures and shot at the peach tree, but the arrow sailed past. When he returned to the bank, he was deathly pale. "You have skill, dignity, and posture," said Tetsuya. "You have a good grasp of technique and you have mastered the bow, but you have not mastered your mind. You know how to shoot when all the circumstances are favorable, but if you are on dangerous ground, you cannot hit the target. The archer cannot always choose the battlefield, so start your training again and be prepared for unfavorable situations. Continue in the way of the bow, for it is a whole life's journey, but remember that a good, accurate shot is very different from one made with peace in your soul." The stranger made another deep bow, replaced his bow and his arrows in the long bag he carried over his shoulder, and left. On the way back, the boy was exultant. "You showed him, Tetsuya! You really are the best!" "We should never judge people without first learning to hear and to respect them. The stranger was a good man; he did not humiliate me or try to prove he was better than I am, even though he may have given that impression. He wanted to show off his art and to have it recognized, even though it may have appeared that he was challenging me. Besides, having to confront unexpected trials is part of the way of the bow, and that was precisely what the stranger allowed me to do today." "He said that you were the best, and I didn't even know you were a master archer. So why do you work as a carpenter?" "Because the way of the bow serves for everything, and my dream was to work with wood. Besides, an archer who follows the way does not need a bow or an arrow or a target." "Nothing interesting ever happens in this village, and now suddenly here I am, face-to-face with the master of an art that no one even cares about anymore," said the boy, his eyes shining. "What is the way of the bow? Can you teach me?" "Teaching it isn't hard. I could do that in less than an hour, while we're walking back to the village. The difficult thing is to practice it every day, until you achieve the necessary precision." The boy's eyes seemed to be begging him to say yes. Tetsuya walked in silence for nearly fifteen minutes, and when he spoke again, his voice sounded younger: "Today I am contented. I did honor to the man who, many years ago, saved my life, and, because of that, I will teach you all the necessary rules, but I can do no more than that. If you understand what I tell you, you can use those teachings as you wish. Now, a few minutes ago, you called me master. What is a master? I would say that he is not someone who teaches something, but someone who inspires the student to do his best to discover a knowledge he already has in his soul." And as they came down the mountain, Tetsuya explained the way of the bow. Excerpted from The Archer by Paulo Coelho All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
