Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho

Straight after I read a book about a girl in a hospital I get this book about a woman in a mental hospital. The last one left a bad taste so I started this one with a negative view. But it’s not bad. It’s about Veronika taking an overdose to end her life and the last few days she has in the asylum.

The story is alright, the revelations of Veronika and the other 4 main characters were good but I’ve read such stuff already so it was nothing new to me. There was continuity issues in parts of the story and it did jump from one persons history and life to another. Kinda repetitious, but all in all its pretty decent.

Had a nice bit about being to happy leads to depression and you need some unhappiness to be happy kinda thing. The end is what grabbed me mostly coz I could relate to it, it was the doctors thesis on suicidal patients (no I don’t relate to suicide!) and finding a cure so they don’t want to try again if they failed. Their will to live while they’re still here.

Now thats what grabbed my attention coz one thing I know is how death can wake you UP! Quick read, no contents… some chapters were even one pagers. Found it in Neha’s old room so big up Neha for leaving it there.

Quotes:
– There is alwayas a gap between intention and action.
– The human race must procreate. Society needs workers. A couple has to have a reason to stay together even when love has ceased to exist, and a country needs soldiers, politicians and artists.
– Absurd though it (she fighting with her husband over his mistress) may seem, I think that was the happiest time of her life. She was fighting for something, She felt alive and capable of responding to the challenges facing her.
– Some people always want to help others. Just so that they can feel better than they really are.
– People never learn anything by being told, they have to findout for themselves.
– A schizophrenic is a person who already has a natural tendency to absent himself from this world.