veronika decides to die

veronika decides to die, originally uploaded by bitiqe.

finally finished with this Paulo Coelho’s book. I never read any of him before, and this is my first time, if not because Uli-my house mate- I am sure i never knew Paulo Coelho...from the first page i turn this book...every line...and sentences makes me stunning

"It is about madness and the need to find an alternative way of living for people who frequently have to face other people's prejudices because they think in a different way."

Veronika seems to have everything she could wish for. She goes to popular night spots, she meets and dates attractive young men and yet she's not happy. Something is lacking in her life. That's why, in the morning of 11th November 1997, Veronika Decides to Die. After taking an overdose, Veronika is told she has only a few days to live.

This story follows Veronika through these intense days as to her surprise, she finds herself drawn into the enclosed world of the local hospital she is staying in. In this heightened state she discovers things she has never really allowed herself to feel before: hatred, fear, curiosity, love - even sexual awakening. Her experiences lead her gradually to realize that every second of her existence is a choice between living and dying.

After finished with my reading, i keep wondering how come Coelho able to describe this thing in a very straight way, then i found that he was at the mental hospital during his early youth age.

He was suffering from 'admission syndrome'. Normal people who, at some point, find themselves in an abnormal situation - such as depression, panic, etc. - occasionally use illness as an alternative to life. That is, they choose to be ill, because being 'normal' is too much like hard work.

-"So what is insanity??" zedka asked - this is my favorite line of Veronika decides to die, makes me stop a while and recollecting all my memories of sanity.

Because sometime, we have the 'other' us hiding inside, waiting for revealed, and one day when we unable to keep them again, you become different to other, and so they called you INSANE!!

Between normality and madness, which is basically the same thing, there exists an intermediary stage: it is called 'being different'. And people were becoming more and more afraid of 'being different