* {{Narm}}: For some people, the books comes off very much like Paulo Coelho has an inflated view of how wise and profound he is.
* OlderThanTheyThink: Talk to any teacher who's taught this book in their class, and they'll tell you about students being outraged that it's "a rip-off of ''[[Literature/HarryPotter Harry Potter'']]." This book was written nine years before ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', and the story of the Philosopher's Stone has existed for '''hundreds of years''' before that.
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