I already had a suspicion this would happen. This book is quite present in Portuguese bookshops and libraries, but i never had the slightest desire to pick it up. Just never called to me. I finally did read it because of a recommendation. :/
There were some nice lines in this book, but i never liked where Coelho went with them ("that's nice, actuall-... and you've ruined it").
Being Portuguese, I don't think reading it untranslated would have made a difference tbh. The narrative/story itself didn't pull me in, I was bored throughout the entire thing. It was small and seemed to go on forever, even then. This isn't really a work of fiction or a story per say. It's more of a morality book - again, some of the quotes are nice, but in the end, it just did not spoke to me.