Veronika decides to die review. Review on Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho

This is a short novel of about 190 pages, but each page is an excerpt from each of our existences. Any minor deviations from the societal norms, brands us as abnormal. The book shows us two sides of the coin: surrender to the society’s perception of our conduct, or struggle against that majority and try to find our own way in the world.

To unlock our deepest desires and to live life the way we want, has somehow lost its meaning. By digging deep in our souls we only realize bitterness , hatred, love, madness .But what rules us is the fear to express what we feel .The book makes us realize life has not stopped offering changes but what we do with those changes , affect us. Closing our eyes from doing anything that’s different, that can change our life, guarding ourselves inside the high defensive walls will not help the cause. There’s an immediate need to break free from the shadows of monotony, normal and slow death.

Each lesson in our life comes from our own experiences and they can only happen if we let them. Otherwise life just stagnates.The book takes us through the risks taken by each of the characters. Life becomes worth living when we experiment with our capacity and capability. Love is the biggest risk that humans take. To completely surrender oneself to someone, tests all our other emotions. Selfless love is the impossible bond that all of us seek but rarely any of us find.

But that does not stop us from loving as to feel alive we need to breath and bleed.The knowledge of death inspires us to live each day with much enthusiasm and contentment. Otherwise we take each moment for granted and never pause to think that maybe this will be our last. We live for tomorrow and not for today. We stop realizing that we are judged by the standards of people who themselves do things which are way off the mark but manage to hide them.

Each day is a miracle when we consider the number of things that can happen to us in each second of our fragile existence.The author successfully manages to leave a mark on the hearts of all the people who ever decided what Veronica had, who ever felt like her, or like any of the other characters in Villete.Insanity, as all call it, becomes a very relative term when we apply it to us humans. Our actions which may appear insane to someone, maybe completely justified to someone else. We need to realize that it’s perfectly fine to not behave as others expect us to and do what our heart tells us. It’s a very short life and we need to live it to the fullest, without any inhibitions.