The title of this book “Veronika Decides to Die” is a sure put-off for many. I picked it up because of my curiosity due to the off-beat title and the book was by the world-famous Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho of The Alchemist fame. When I started reading this book, my wife looked at me puzzled about what I was doing with a book titled “… to die”. After reading the book in its entirety, which was a delight as Paulo Coelho is a master storyteller, you realize the book is all about Life and living it, rather than anything about Death. In a gist, the book is all about following your heart, speaking out your dreams and going for it, mainly living each day to the full.
The story is about Veronika a young, beautiful woman from Ljubljana, Slovenia. As I started reading the book, the first thing that interested me was where is this city – Ljubljana (I have to refer to Wikipedia on how to pronounce this). The way the author describes the city, its beautiful city centre and its statue of France Prešeren, you get so impressed with the city that you haven’t even heard of before.
After reading the book you will be sure to think that Hollywood will make it into a movie. Yes, they have done that, you can watch the trailer by searching for the title. I read some reviews on the movie, and the plot seems to have been changed to USA, so I am not sure I will like that after reading the book.
Paulo Coelho – Veronika Decides to Die