Book Review - Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho

I have picked up this book from this year's book fair. My eyes went on this book and I knew I had to buy this book. I have read Paulo Coelho's work before and I have loved it so I was eager to know what this book contains.

Book Blurb

Twenty-four-year-old Veronika seems to have everything she could wish for: youth and beauty, pleny of attractive boyfriends, a fulfilling job, and a loving family. Yet something is lacking in her life. Inside her is a void so deep that nothing could possibly ever fill it. So, on the morning of November 11, 1997, Veronika decides to die. She takes a handful of sleeping pills expecting never to wake up.

Naturally Veronika is stunned when she does wake up at Villete, a local mental hospital, where the staff informs her that she has, in fact, partially succeeded in achieving her goal. While the overdose didn't kill Veronika immediately, the medication has damaged her heart so severely that she has only days to live.

The story follows Veronika through the intense week of self-discovery that ensues. To her surprise, Veronika finds herself drawn to the confinement of Villete and its patients, who, each in his or her individual way, reflect the heart of human experience. In the heightened state of life's final moments, Veronika discovers things she has never really allowed herself to feel before: hatred, fear, curiosity, love, and sexual awakening. She finds that every second of her existence is a choice between living and dying, and at the eleventh hour emerges more open to life than ever before.

Veronika is a beautiful, attractive girl, has a basic job and a comfortable living. She finds no excitement in her life and so she finally decides to end it but her attempt was foul. And she ends up in a mental hospital where she finds out that she has limited days to live. But the things that happen in that mental hospital changes her life and she ends up wanting to live again. If you want to find out what happened in that hospital you have to read the book.

I loved the character of Veronika and I have also found similarities between her and myself. Her character is written beautifully along with the characters of Zedka who was in the hospital for her depression, Mari who was there for her anxiety attacks but her illness has been long cured but she still choose to be in the mental hospital, and finally Eduard the schizophrenic and also Veronika's lover. The storyline for these characters is spellbound.

Although this book does start negatively and you may feel depressed reading the first few pages but I want to tell you that hold on it does get better in the end. Also if you are someone who likes to read peculiar love stories than this book might be it but by saying this that if you think that this book is some romance novel than no but it does feature peculiar romance towards the end. I don't think this book is for everyone, you'll either love it or hate it, in my opinion, I loved this book and I might even read it again in the future.

Some of my favorite lines from the book are below.

I want to continue being mad, living my life the way I dream it, and not the way other people want it to be.

The "mad" always believe in first impressions

Although she had always felt loved and protected, there had been one missing element that would have transformed that love into a blessing, she should have allowed herself to be a little madder. ( Favorite of them all)

Ratings

1. Cover : - 4/5
2. Content : - 4/5
3. Character : -4/5
4. Concept : - 4/5
5. Overall : - 4/5

Book can be found at Amazon & Flipkart

Review from other readers can be found at GoodReads