ASSIGNMENT # 01

ENGLISH - 01

SUBMITTED BY: AMINA JADOON

SUBMITTED TO: MS SHUMAILA

DEPARTMENT: MATHEMATICS

SUBMISSION DATE: 21STOCTOBER, 2016.

FATIMA JINNAH WOMEN UNIVERSITY

 BOOK REVIEW

VERONIKA DECIDES TO DIE

“In order to appreciate life, one must taste death…”

BOOK REVIEW
Veronika decides to die is a novel written by Portuguese writer Paulo Coelho. The novel
was published in 1998 in Brazil. It has been translated into forty five different languages.
The novel is based on writer own experience in mental institution. Paulo as a teenager
discovered his passion for literature but his parents had different plans for him. They
wanted him to become an engineer. When their attempt to suppress his devotion to
literature failed they considered it a mental illness. They had twice committed him to a
mental institution.

The novel begins with Veronika taking sleeping pills. She has everything in life- beauty,
a nice job, a loving family yet something is missing in her life. In order to get rid of
feeling of emptiness she decides to take her own life. She wakes up a week later in
Villete the most feared mental asylum in Slovenia. She is told that suicide has damaged
her heart and she has only got five days to live. In these intense days she allows herself
to experience emotions she never did before in her life including hatred and love. She
also realizes that every second of life is important and worth living.

Veronika decides to die was the first Coelho book I ever read and instantly I fell in love
with his writing style. Coelho doesn’t over cloud or embellish his word unnecessarily
instead the focus of the book is firmly upon the main character Veronika and her
feelings which in this case are quite complex. To begin a story with a suicide attempt is
a good way of gaining readers attention. Veronika’s character as a lost young woman
trying to find her niche in this world drew my attention.

To me the best scene of the novel was when Veronika bangs the piano keys with all her
strength to get her anger out. Veronika was a girl who never allowed herself to behave
the way she wanted to but now she was in a mental institute and she could do whatever
she wanted to because no one would call her crazy. I personally felt happy for her
because she did what she felt was right without caring about the world around her.
Sometimes madness and craziness can also make us feel better.

At few points I wished that Veronika would have acted differently especially when she
tried to approach fraternity and was badly rejected instead of running away and crying
she should have faced the situation and reacted to it in a positive way.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has ever thought of suicide. I believe that
it has power to draw people away from darkness. Life is a gift of God and every moment
of it is worth living. Coelho points out in his book that a change in perspective, no matter
how slight or dramatic can often tie a falling person tighter to the thread of life.