I LOVED Veronika Decides to Die! That's a novel I wish I could discuss with more people. Many of the people I am around don't like things that are sad or dark, so I don't get to talk about the real deep joy of works like this. There are three issues that resonated with me in this novel: Suicide (and thus, the value of life), Insanity (and institution) -and the little Sufi element in it (yeah yeah yeah... I know I'm biased as fuck!)

I think you might enjoy Eleven Minutes. The book comes very close to seeing sexuality the way I see it. The main character in it is so jaded, and yet she still finds something powerful and surprising in her highly structured life.

Those of us who have had to survive do that kind of thing. We structure our lives so that we can have hope for a future and a sense of security. This was something, my dear Star, that I wanted to explain to you. Those who have suffered poverty, abuse, neglect, and such tend to draw what I call "maps of hope". This is fairly consistant. Those maps of hope sometimes get to ridged and inflexible. If we overidentify with them, then we are in danger when that structure no longer serves us. I try to imagine what my life would have been like if I remained a gangster, or an orthodox Muslim... I don't think it would have been all that pleasant and I also think I might have become a bit more of a bastard than I already am!

I see this character in Eleven Minutes as the kind of person I would have been if I were born female. Even as a man, I still have similar and comparable experiences (just like I do with Veronika).

I'm really enjoying Coelho's recent work. I look at his early work and see him working through stuff (Valkryies, Alchemist, Pilgrim). Now, he's REALLY telling stories!

I'm looking forward to digging into Zahir, his newest novel! (after I finish Octavia Butlers new book...)