Manuscript Found in Accra

I loved reading The Alchemist a few years back so when the chance came along to read Manuscript Found in Accra, I jumped at the chance. A philosophical literary story, it is a short book at 190 pages, packed with many words of advice that although I was reminded of the books of wisdom from the bible, didn't quite speak to me in the same way.

On the eve of battle, the people who chose to stay and fight, gathered to hear what the Copt and a Rabbi, Iman and Christian priest, leaders of the three religions in Jerusalem had to say about the battle. But rather than prepare battle, the Copt wanted the people to question and talk about how they felt.

"None of us can know what tomorrow will hold, because each day has its good and its bad moments. So, when you ask your questions, forget about the troops outside and the fear inside. Our task is not to leave a record of what happened on this date for those who will inherit the Earth; history will take care of that. Therefore, we will speak about your daily lives, about the difficulties we have had to face. That is all the future will be interested, because I do not believe very much will change in the next thousand years."

And went on to address questions about defeat, solitude, feelings of uselessness, afraid of changing, beauty, which direction to take, love, fate, sex, elegance, luck, miracles, anxiety, the future, loyalty, and enemies. What do you suppose would be the questions on your mind the night before a battle? Certainly not most of those. Given that it is fiction, I couldn't help feeling that many of the things said by the Copt was new age platitudes and fatalistic thinking, since the majority of people expected to die the next day in the siege. I unfortunately didn't appreciate the story as much as I had The Alchemist. Perhaps if it had been written into a story with action, rather than just a question and answer session, it would have been better.