Veronika Decides To Die

Read 2 books this week. The first one was a gift - Veronika Decides To Die by Paulo Coelho and the next was A Place Called Here by Cecilia Ahern. Kind of abstract books, both! This isn't a very good review of either book, merely a brief summary of both,
simply for the sake of writing about each. Read them to find out for yourself, if they are good.

Veronika tries to take her own life with a few pills... for no reason other than she's tired of the mundane routine in her life. Somehow, she ends up in a mental hospital instead. She's treated by a Doctor who makes her believe that she has only a few days to live, with heart-attack like symptoms inducing medicine. She begins to appreciate life at the mental hospital, meets a supposed schizophrenic and then doesn't want to die anymore! The doctor is pleased for a successful experiment of making people want to live by bringing them close to a feeling of death. Well-written but not a new concept. Can't say I enjoyed it immensely but didn't think it wasteful reading either.

Cecilia Ahern has magic in her books. She paints beautiful pictures with her words. This book's again of a woman, not so normal. Obsessed with the need to 'find' missing things, she ends up in a place called 'Here' where all missing things go, after twenty four years of searching. Once she's found everything and returned home (in the same strange manner she landed in 'Here' in the first place), she's cured and comes home happy. She ends up together with her doctor-counsellor of many years.

I noticed a striking similarity between the two books - even though one was slightly dark and heavy whereas the other was angelic white and light. Both had women protagonists, strange women that no one understood and both had a happy ending. Both women turn out 'normal' in the end. Both stories were slightly far-fetched yet believable in a weird sense.

I'm wondering if I ought to read Sudha Murthy first or hit another Coelho. Got a few hours to decide, let's see!