Veronika Decide Morir (Spanish Edition) [Paperback]

Paulo Coelho (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2001

Veronika es una joven que tiene los mismos sueños y deseos que cualquier persona de su edad.Es guapa, cuenta con un buen trabajo y no le faltan pretendientes. Su vida transcurre sin mayores sobresaltos, sin grandes alegrías ni grandes tristezas. Pero Veronika no es feliz. Por eso, la mañana del 11 de noviembre de 1997, Veronika decide morir. Sueños y fantasías. Deseo y muerte. Locura y pasión. Veronika, en su camino hacia la muerte, descubre que cada segundo de la existencia es una opción que tomamos entre la alternativa de sequir adelante o de abandonar. Veronika experimenta placeres nuevos y halla un nuevo sentido a la vida, un sentido que le había permanecido oculto hasta ahora, cuando ya es demasiado tarde para echarse atrás.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Veronika decides to die in Spanish. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the city where he now lives. His own life has in many ways been as varied and unusual as the protagonists of his internationally acclaimed novels. Like them, Paulo Coelho has followed a dream in a quest for fulfillment. His own dream, to be a writer, met with frustration throughout much of his early adult life, a time in which he worked at various professions, some of them materially rewarding but spiritually unfulfilling. "I always knew," he says, "that my Personal Legend, to use a term from alchemy, was to write." He was 38 when he published his first book.

In 1970, after deciding that law school was not for him, he traveled through much of South America, North Africa, Mexico, and Europe. Returning to Brazil after two years, he began a successful career as popular songwriter. In 1974, he was imprisoned for a short time by the military dictatorship then ruling in Brazil. In 1980, he experienced one of the defining moments of his life: he walked the 500-plus mile Road of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. On this ancient highway, used for centuries by pilgrims from France to get to the cathedral said to house the remains of St. James, he achieved a self-awareness and a spiritual awakening that he later described in The Pilgrimage.

Paulo Coelho once said that following your dream is like learning a foreign language; you will make mistakes but you will get there in the end. In 1988, he published The Alchemist, a novel that explores this theme, and it launched him as an international bestselling author. Specifically, Paulo Coelho is recognized for his powerful storytelling technique and the profound spiritual insights he blends seamlessly into his parables. Since then, The Alchemist has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and has been translated into some 41 languages. In addition to The Pilgrimage and The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho has written luminous novels about the different streams of our lives, including By The River Piedra I Sat Down & Wept, The Valkyries, The Fifth Mountain, and Veronika Decides to Die. A winner of numerous literary prizes, Paulo Coelho is also a prominent speaker for humanitarian causes. In 1999, he received a Crystal Award for Artistic Achievement at the Davos Economic Forum Conference.

Paulo Coelho nació en Brasil y es uno de los autores más leídos internacionalmente. El Alquimista, su libro más famoso, ha vendido mas de 35 millones de copias en todo el mundo y ha sido traducido a cincuenta y cuatro idiomas. Ha recibido destacados premios y menciones internacionales como el Planetary Arts Award, el Crystal Award concedido por el foro Económico Mundial y la prestigiosa distinción Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Legión d'Honneur del gobierno francés. Coelho escribe una columna semanal sindicada en el mundo entero. Actualmente, vive en Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Rayo (October 2, 2001)
• Language: Spanish
• ISBN-10: 0060011939
• ISBN-13: 978-0060011932
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #456,159 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Untranslated > Spanish

More About the Author

The Brazilian author PAULO COELHO was born in 1947 in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Before dedicating his life completely to literature, he worked as theatre director and actor, lyricist and journalist.

In 1986, PAULO COELHO did the pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella, an experience later to be documented in his book The Pilgrimage.

In the following year, COELHO published The Alchemist. Slow initial sales convinced his first publisher to drop the novel, but it went on to become one of the best selling Brazilian books of all time.

Other titles include Brida (1990), The Valkyries (1992), By the river Piedra I sat Down and Wept (1994), the collection of his best columns published in the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S'o Paulo entitle Maktub (1994), the compilation of texts Phrases (1995), The Fifth Mountain (1996), Manual of a Warrior of Light (1997), Veronika decides to die (1998), The Devil and Miss Prym (2000), the compilation of traditional tales in Stories for parents, children and grandchildren (2001), Eleven Minutes (2003), The Zahir (2005)

During the months of March, April, May and June 2006, Paulo Coelho traveled to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his pilgrimage to Saint James of Compostella in 1986. He also held surprise book signings - announced one day in advance - in some cities along the way, to have a chance to meet his readers. In ninety days of pilgrimage the author traveled around the globe and took the famous Transiberrian train that took him to Vladivostok. During this experience Paulo Coelho launched his blog Walking the Path - The Pilgrimage in order to share with his readers his impressions.

Since this first blog Paulo Coelho has expanded his presence in the internet with his daily blogs in Wordpress (http://paulocoelhoblog.com), Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/paulocoelho) & Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Paulo-Coelho/11777366210). He is equally present in media sharing sites such as Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=paulabraconnot) and Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulo_coelho/sets) , offering on a regular basis not only texts but also videos and pictures to his readers.

From this intensive interest and use of the Internet sprang his bold new project: The Experimental Witch http://paulocoelhoblog.com/experimental-witch where he invites his readers to adapt to the screen his book The Witch of Portobello. You can still subscribe in this experiment!

Indeed Paulo Coelho is a firm believer of Internet as a new media and is the first Best-selling author to actively support online free distribution http://piratecoelho.wordpress.com of his work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nunca es tarde para valorar la vida, August 15, 2000

By 

Victor Gonzaga (Lima, Lima Peru) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Veronika decide morir (Hardcover)

Paulo refleja en esta obra parte de su vida. El describe parte de si mismo reemplazando personajes y lugares .... pero muy en el fondo el habla de si mismo y, quien sabe, también de nosotros. Por eso no se sienta aludido si en algún momento se identifica con uno de sus personajes. Paulo tiene esa magia en las manos que saben como decirte las cosas cotidianas, aquellas que cuando lo lees te preguntas: alguien me dijo esto alguna vez antes?.

Veronika es una joven cuya vida, según su particular punto de vista, se había tornado monótona y al percibir que no habrá un cambio contundente en un futuro cercano decide suicidarse porque ya nada tenía sentido. Había planeado todo friamente pero las cosas no salieron como ella lo deseaba y sobrevivió. Entonces es internada por su familia en un Sanatorio para enfermos mentales en donde es tratada por un psiquiatra que trataba de probar una teoría sobre la locura. A pesar de haber sobrevivido al suicidio es informada que de todas formas morirá inevitablemente porque parte de su corazón quedó inerte. Ella es desahusiada y solamente le quedan unos pocos días más de vida.

De esta manera ella prefiere no relacionarse con los enfermos porque no quería tener ningún enlace con la vida puesto que la muerte estaba cerca, y ella quería irse sin remordimiento, sin tener a nadie a quien extrañar, ni por quien aferrarse a seguir viviendo. Sin embargo no puede evitar relacionarse con los enfermos de ese lugar y estos episodios hacen que su concepto sobre la vida cambien rotundamente. Se da cuenta que no había vivido lo suficiente y vuelven a ella los deseos de no partir al más alla. Conoce el amor que hasta entonces le había sido esquivo, un amor en silencio pero que hablaba con los ojos. Considero que nadie debe atreverse a contar el final de la obra pues acabarían con su magia . Desea saber Qué sucede con Veronika?, pues leala. Pienso que es una de las mejores obras literarias de Coehlo. Emplea un lenguaje sencillo, sin enredos, pero con pensamientos sabios que a muchos, como a mí, les cambiará la vida. Gracias Paulo

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, wonderful and life-affirming, March 20, 2000

By 

saliero (NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Veronika decide morir (Spanish Edition) (Paperback)

This was published in paperback in Australia in 1999. I am commenting on the English language version.

I absolutely love this book, and is my pick for fiction of the year for 1999.

It was such a joy to read a book that was about life, without being maudlin or saccharine-sweetly moralistic. It most closely reminds me of the sort of work by people like Isabel Allende and Garcia Marquez. I will be looking for more by this author.

Veronika and her friends really make you examine your own views of 'madness' and it moved me to examine how I react when confronted with people who display different, unexpected or confronting beaviour in public. I came to understand that I probably move away, avoid, because it is the sheer unpredicatability of what may occur. We usually operate within a comfort zone of familiarity with our own and others' EXPECTED responses to situations, and for something to do otherwise IS challenging.

I wish all fiction was simultaneously as accessible - ie readable- and also leave something to think about, linger on. Not that everything has to be 'deep' or 'seriously profound', but it is like the difference between a nourishing, satisfying meal made from the best and freshest ingredients, and a fat-filled junk food takeaway.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Morir es vivir / Todie is to live (Sp & eng), December 10, 1999

By 

"ankorwat" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Veronika decide morir (Spanish Edition) (Paperback)

Me encanto este libro. Me enseño el verdadero significado de vivir cada dia como si fuera el ultimo de mi vida. Me inspiro a darme la oportunidad de vivir uno de los momentos mas maravillosos de mi vida, donde sin escrupulos, ni tabus, ni inhibiciones, comparti mi ser, en plenitud con la persona que mas he querido en la vida. I loved this book. It tought me the real meaning of living every day as if it was the last one of my life. It inspired me to grant myself the opportunity to live through one of the most wonderful experiences of my life, where without scruples, taboes, nor inhibitions, I shared my self, my entire being with the person that I've loved the most in my life. YM, if you ever asked your self why? Because of this book, that is why.