4/50. Veronika Decides to Die.

Having enjoyed Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, I decided to read a novel of his that I had picked up during a "3 Books for the Price of 2" sale, Veronika Decides to Die. Though I didn't enjoy it as much as The Alchemist, it was still a good book.

Veronika is young, has a decent life, but she finds it all rather dull and repetitive. As such, she has decided that the time has come to die. So she overdoses on pills, expecting the end.

Instead, she wakes up in a mental hospital, very much alive for the time being. However, the doctor informs her that she has done irreversible damage to her heart, and so she only has about a week left.

The trouble is, Veronika has decided she doesn't want to be dead at all. She wants to live. As this book explores her last week, it challenges her and the reader to reconsider what it means to be alive.

I have a feeling that all of Coelho's novels have some sort of underlying message. I don't think I mind that though.