Hippie is a semi-biographical depiction of hippie life in the 1970s. Paulo Coelho uses, as always, beautiful descriptions to help the reader live some of those moments in the story, while sharing some of his life's lessons with us along the way. 

This was an interesting, travel-like collection of things that happened to the author during that era. However, the story felt a lot more like an autobiography than general fiction, under which the book was listed. Moreover, there was a  lot  of back-and-forth in the plot, which hinders the flow instead of helping it.

All in all it was a pleasant and quick read, while also being very informative. Fans of Coelho will not be disappointed, and people who love the Hippie movement will certainly enjoy it.

I'm not sure what to make of this. It's a fascinating travel guide on the one hand and we get to see and experience some wonderful places but as a memoir I got a bit lost as it reads like a gap year diary going from one thought to another with little direction.

I suppose people who experienced the hippie stage of life might get more from this but Paulo tells you what happened fact after fact without really delving into the whys and wherefors. It's the hippie way of life I guess - travelling and smoking, drinking and free love 'just because'. There are some interesting views of places we now think of as adventurous and iconic with backpackers such as Macchu Picchu and the Death Train of Bolivia which I enjoyed but these read as snippets, vignettes of a travel diary rather than an essay on enlightenment.

I won't see Dam Square in Amsterdam in the same light again that's for sure!

Overall, I didn't get what he was trying to achieve I'm afraid.