The book is an allegorical tale of a young man's search for treasure. The treasure, of course, turned out to be a richer life and stronger character. The writing had a strongly optimistic tone and a sound central theme--to pursue one's dream despite obstacles. But the structure was simplistic, as was much of the philosophy. The message was often heavy-handed and repetitive. Mr. Coelho's introduction delivered the goods in four pages...the book itself seemed like an elaboration. The consensus of our book club was that there was valuable material in the themes in spite of the simplistic approach but the preaching exceeded the story.