Everyone is indeed crazy, but the craziest are the ones who don't know they're crazy. ~ Veronika
I was walking around Barnes and Noble in West Hartford a few weeks ago killing time, looking for different books to read. I thought of Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist, and decided to see what else he's written. He has a ton of books, but two struck me. I'm going to read the other one in a few weeks. Veronika Decides to Die sounds like a book about death. In reality, it's a book about living.
Veronika is a 24 year old who seems to have everything - college educated, a good job, caring parents, good looks. But at the same time, something is missing from her life. One desperate evening, she decides to end her life by swallowing a handful of pills. Except it doesn't work. She passes out, waking up in a mental hospital, being told she only has days to live due to damage to her heart from the pills.
In the mental hospital, she is surround by the insane, but also the not-so-insane. With only a few days to live, she has deep conversions about everything. What it means to be crazy. What it means to feel alive. There are countless conversations, quotes, and stories that are simply phenomenal. Veronika's stay in the mental hospital makes her realize who she truly is, and simultaneously brings out the best in the other patients. An awareness of life sometimes requires an awareness of death.
My rating for Veronika Decides to Die: 4 stars out of 5. Get it here!
P.S. Nicholas Sparks' latest book, The Longest Ride, came out this past Tuesday. Should have a post on it next Sunday.
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