Have you ever thought what it’s like to be in an asylum?

 

A Review for the book “Veronika decides to die” by Paulo Coelho.

Veronica is a beautiful twenty-four year old who decided to end her life despite her normal life. She took pills but ended up in an asylum after her failed attempt. She walks us through her experiences there as a sane person, the people she came across, the thoughts she had. This eye opening series of experiences makes us think about our own lives and how appreciative we should be.

The writer revealed Veronika’s thought process, it was amazing to see the changes that happened in her mind throughout the story, which made her feel better about herself and lead her to love life instead of wanting to die. That was by experiencing a lot of emotions that she didn’t experience as intensely as she did in the asylum. In addition, I really liked the turn of events and the plot twists along the way, did Veronica go mad? Or is everyone in the asylum normal in their own way? 

Reading the book is an experience in itself, it’s something uncommon compared to our day-to-day life. The main character takes you on a journey with her, not only triggers your imagination, but also puts you in her shoes. Also, you will meet different characters with different mental illnesses and cases, which will add to your knowledge in the psychology world.

Veronika delivered the message "everyone is responsible for their own happiness and their own life", which helped me realize that I should change my way of thinking about specific things in life. It is a novel full of emotions, very deep in meaning - it touches a lot of aspects that don’t usually cross our minds - and, at the same time fun to read. I recommend it if you like human psychology and thought-provoking fiction.