Live today as if there's no tomorrow! (Veronika Decides to Die)

1. Summary

Veronika has everything such as youth, beauty, family, and job, which are coveted by most people. But she has one essential thing missing: a reason to live for. She attempts suicide by taking sleeping pills but to no avail. She ended up waking up in a mental hospital and she is told that she has only several days to live.

There are other inmates in the hospital. Zedka who had an out-of-wedlock relationship suffers from severe depression after realizing that she was exploited by the lover. Mari who was an efficient lawyer has a panic attack and has to leave her firm. Eduard who wanted to become a painter faces his affluent parents' strong objection and suffers from schizophrenia.

Interacting with the patients, she does/says what she wants without worrying about what others think of her. She frees herself to experience hatred and love. She eventually escapes from the hospital to live a happy life with Eduard.

Veronika does not die on her last day and ushers in another day of life with delight. This miracle has to do with Dr. Igor's experiment. He believed that an awareness of death encourages people to live more intensely, and it has been proven.
 

2. Reaction

This is my second Coelho book following The Alchemist. Honestly, neither of them I like. They are both too philosophical and out-of-this-world, which sound more like textbook lessons. Besides, the stories don't have to be that long just to say that something obvious and unequivocal. Neverthelss, I have to admit that the writer's style is impeccable and quite a few sentences resonated with me. The author definitely knows how to touch burned-out souls. But there is little or no use of getting solace from him because I know I'll have to go back to my routine with no ultimate solution.

An anecdote tells us what sanity is. When 65-year-old Mari sets off in search of adventure, the Fraternity says that Mari has finally gone insane. Normality is merely a matter of consensus; A lot of people think something is right and that thing becomes right. People go against nature because they lack the courage to be different, and thus just accept the yardstick society imposes on without wondering why they should behave like that. In a way, crazy people in the mental hospital are perfectly normal and healthy, whereas seemingly normal people outside are mentally deteriorating.

Each human being is unique and it's OK to be different. Thus, do and say what you want and be who you want in order to stay mentally healthy. Live today as if you'll die tomorrow.

Tinkers

1. Summary

Tinkers is the story of three New England generations: son, father, and grandfather. It is about time and memory, life and death.

George who faces imminent death looks back on lives of his father, Howard and his own. He had impoverished childhood living in a bitter, cold area. His father was a peddler/tinker who traveled far to backwoods, and his mother was frustrated and strict with raising her kids. He witnessed his father's epileptic seizure during which his finger was bitten by his father, and this experience traumatized him.

Howard, who had assumed that his wife's silence meant her kindness and tolerance, was in despair and did not come back home when he saw a brochure of a mental hospital that his wife had placed that morning. He moved to Philadelphia and started over a new life.

Young Howard's father, who was a church minister, showed signs of mental illness. One day he was taken away from home and Howard did not see his father again.

The last thing George remembers was Christmas dinner in 1953, when Howard had a short visit to George's family after tracking his first family.

 

2. Reaction

One dominant question has been lingering in my frustrated mind all through the reading: what is the writer trying to convey? On top of that, I had no idea what was going on except some anecdotes related to Hick Gilbert's decayed tooth, Howard's fit at Christmas dinner, and George's runaway. There are 191 pages, but if I understand one third of it, I think I am lucky enough.

Howard seems to be sympathetic with feeble creatures like wild flowers and plants because they represent life and freedom, which are elusive for him. He is poverty-ridden, which is a prison from which he hardly escape. Besides, he suffers from incurable epilepsy. All these things make him depressed and naturally lead him to ponder over death and evanescence.

The last scene of the story is impressive. What George remembers after all the memories is his father's unexpected visit. I believe this memory helps him reconcile with his father and rest in peace.

If life is so desolate and full of hardship that I have to wade through it just like the man on the book cover, it is heavyhearted. But I want to have a hope that at the end of the grueling journey in knee-deep snow, I will reach my home where loved ones are waiting for me sitting around a warm fireplace. Hopefully, life will be something I will smile at on my deathbed when I will be reflecting on.