Daily Times

Veronika Decides to Die imparts a very strong message on teenagers that life is not limited to our problems, rather we should face them and leave no space for disappointments in our lives.

This is the book in which the heroine attempts several times for the suicide because of the problems and depressions she has in her life.

This book was published in 1998 by Paulo Coelho who does not only write such books but also tells the importance of his writings by sending out strong messages to his readers. Veronika decides to die is all about a girl who is twenty five year old with a family and a wonderful job. She is mentally immoral who in fact thinks in herself that she is always alone. This is the reason she tries to keep avoiding strangers in her life because she does not like the company of others because of her mindset, hating herself and her family. Having no companions with because of her own wishes, she therefore wishes to commit suicide in one way or another and she wants to leave the world forever.

The story says love and honesty has the power to drive out any problem in our life. Veronika was disappointed with her life but in the end, she comes to know about the beauty of life which is to win the love of her close ones. Survival in this world is linked to loving and respecting everyone

Furthermore, the story revolves around Veronika who does not keep any relationship with anyone in fact she does not like the company of her own family which is the greatest failure of her life. She always makes herself alone and thinks that life is only limited around her feelings and emotions. However she lives in a beautiful and caring family and partners in her office, yet she keeps avoiding everyone in her life as if she wants to continue alone the journey of her life. Her parents ask about her sadness, she shouts at them and always tells them to leave her alone. She never visits other but only thinks of herself and tries to commit suicide again and again which has made her mind likewise as if she keeps no hope in her life nor any dreams but only death. This is what happened several times with as once she took some expired tablets in her office and she got unconscious. She found herself in mental hospital for her deeds and there she meets a boy namely ‘Eduardo’. They meet one another in the same hospital and they start sharing their feelings and Veronika for the first time finds interest in someone and feels comfortable but in fact, she falls in love with that boy. Their usual meetings and gathering will clear the image of Veronika that life is not only the meaning of worries and sorrows but also life is full of joys. She gets all those happiness in the company of Eduardo and she finds the reasons of her sadness and comes to know that how wrong she was to have such kinds of evil thoughts in her mind, she felt sorry for what she had done to her family members and her companions in her office however she felt happier for what she learnt from Eduardo. Eduardo was the only man who told her the real meaning of life. He spent time with Veronika so that she must know the importance of her family members and the people in her life that how important is to carry the love and respect in this world.

The story says love and honesty has the power to drive out any problem in our life. Veronika was disappointed with her life but in the end, she comes to know about the beauty of life which is to win the love of her close ones. Survival in this world is linked to loving and respecting everyone. Committing suicide is not the solution of problems rather it creates more problems, there should always be optimistic and unity in one’s life when someone wants to be successful. This is the book that tells the readers about the impacts of keeping such thoughts and evil ideas, and also this book ends with the only message that love is the only power that can change anything but not committing suicide.

The writer is a teacher and can be reached at irshadwahid123@gmail.com