The title of this book “Veronika Decides to Die” is a sure put-off for many. I picked it up because of the 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 on what I am doing with a book titled “… to die”. After reading the book in entirety, which was a delight as Paulo Coelho is a master story-teller, 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 was where is this city – Ljubljana (I have to refer Wikipedia on how to pronounce this). The way the author describes about the city, its beautiful city centre and its statue of France Prešeren, you get so impressed with the city which very likely you haven’t heard before.
After reading the book you will be sure that Hollywood will make it into a movie and they have done that, see the trailer here. I read some reviews on the movie, the plot seems to have been changed to USA, so I am not sure I will like that after reading the book.