Veronika Decides to Die (Paperback)

~ (Author) "SHE PICKED up the four packs of sleeping pills from her bedside table..." (more)
Key Phrases: electric shock treatment, Paulo Coelho, Impossible Love, Intensive Care Unit

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist) was a young man, his parents had him committed to mental hospitals three times because he wanted to be an artist--an unacceptable profession in Brazil at the time. During his numerous forced incarcerations he vowed to write some day about his experiences and the injustices of involuntary commitment. In this fable-like novel, Coelho makes good on his promise, with the creation of a fictional character named Veronika who decides to kill herself when faced with all that is wrong with the world and how powerless she feels to change anything. Although she survives her initial suicide attempt, she is committed to a mental hospital where she begins to wrestle with the meaning of mental illness and whether forced drugging should be inflicted on patients who don't fit into the narrow definition of "normal." The strength and tragedy of Veronika's fictional story was instrumental in passing new government regulations in Brazil that have made it more difficult to have a person involuntarily committed. Like any great storyteller, Coelho has used the realm of fiction to magically infiltrate and alter the realm of reality. --Gail Hudson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

The bestselling Brazilian author of The Alchemist delicately etches this morose but ultimately uplifting story of the suicidal Veronika, who creeps along the boundary between life and death, sanity and madness, happiness and despair. Veronika, 24, works in a library in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and rents a room in a convent; she is an attractive woman with friends and family, but feelings of powerlessness and apathy tempt her to find "freedom" in an overdose of sleeping pills. When Veronika awakens in the purgatory of Villete, the country's famous lunatic asylum, she is told her suicide attempt weakened her heart and she has only days to live. At this point, Coelho takes a role in the novel; he describes the circumstances under which he discovered Veronika's story and then recounts his own youthful incarceration in a Brazilian sanatorium, consigned there by parents who couldn't understand his "unusual behavior." As quickly as he drops in, however, he drops out again, relying on interior monologues to set scenes. In a sedative-induced haze, Veronika finds companionship in white-haired Mari, who suffers from panic attacks, and Eduard, an ambassador's son who has been diagnosed as schizophrenic, and she begins to question the definition of insanity. It is her supposed death sentence from the devious Dr. Igor, who is trying to shock her back into reality, that allows Veronika to reacquire the will to live and love. Employing his trademark blend of religious and philosophical overtones, Coelho focuses on his central question: why do people go on when life seems unfair and fate indifferent? The simple, often banal prose contrasts Veronika's bleak inner landscape with the beautiful contours of Slovenia, gradually culminating in an upbeat ending with the message that each day of life is a miracle. Coelho's latest will appeal to readers who enjoy animated homilies about the worth of human existence.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (May 8, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060955775
• ISBN-13: 978-0060955779
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (146 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #326,104 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #60 in

  Books > Religion & Spirituality > Authors, A-Z > ( C ) > Coelho, Paulo

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars !!! Excellent book !!!, May 20, 2002

By	Stefan (Austria (Europe)) - See all my reviews

I am not surprised that Veronika decides to die is an international bestseller. It is written by Paulo Coelho, who was born in Brazil.
This book has definitely inspired and/or changed the lives of many people out there. It is a book that will make you think, appreciate life.
It was my first experience of Paulo Coelho and it has made me to read more. He has a gift for writing books, which changes the way you think about life in general. That book is undoubtedly a phenomenon. I really enjoyed reading this satisfying book. I found the story quite gripping. It is a wonderful although bizarre declaration of love to all mad people in our world and to the life itself. The book really touched me very deeply. Paulo Coelho tells from elementary experiences and the readers recognize themselves: with their frailties and fears and also with their yearnings and dreams.

Short summary of Veronika decides to die:
Veronika has everything she could wish for. She is young and pretty, with plenty of attractive boyfriends. She has a steady job and a loving family. Yet Veronika is not happy and one winters morning she takes an overdose of sleeping pills, only to wake up some time later in a local mental hospital. There she is told that although she is alive, her heart is now irreparably damaged and she has only a few days to live. First Veronika feels a tiny bit happy about that message. Then she begins to think about her life.

This story follows her through these intense days as she starts to question all her ideas about life. Soon she comes to realize that every second of existence is a choice we all make between living and dying.
The way it alters her way of thinking and seeing the world. How she starts to question everything around her and also her own mortality. The way Veronika explores her life is inspirational.
It obviously shows us how often we dont know what we have until it is too late.
In addition to its messages, Veronika decides to die offers an interesting insight into how people deal with mental illness.

A review of this novel would not be complete without mentioning the doctor, the ambitious psychiatrist with his eyes on alternative techniques and methods. He is a central character in the plot of this book, although you dont actually see a great deal of him. At this point I dont want to write much more about that book. I dont want to ruin it for those people, who have not read this great book yet.

In conclusion may I say that it is a moving and uplifting song of life, one that reminds us that every moment in our lives is special and precious. Paulo Coelho is a wonderful storyteller with the power to inspire nations and change peoples lives.
I can highly recommend to read this and/or other books of Paulo Coelho.
An excellent novel! A must read for all!
It has changed my way of thinking. I am sure that it will change also your way of thinking!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In Praise of Life, August 30, 2000

By	Judith E. Pavluvcik (Dreaming of the beach in California, but living in the reality of the desert in Arizona!!) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Veronika Decides to Die (Hardcover)

I am great fan of Coelho's and absolutely love his books and the messages that they impart. This is the third book of his that I have read and I found his latest book to be no different! This is an excellent book - it will have you questioning your own life and the value that you do or don't place on it.

As some of the reviewers have said - this is a book about life and not about death and I could not agree more. After an unsuccessful attempt at suicide, Veronika awakens in a mental hospital with a grim death sentence hanging over her head of only having five days left to live. Her conformist way of life, her mediocrity, her stifled creativity, as well as her unwillingness to take risks or challenges, are all brought into the limelight for the reader to "feel". The reader experiences many emotions on Veronika's journey during the remaining five days of her life. We are treated to what her dream "would have been" if she followed her heart and allowed her emotions and passions to shine through.

Veronika's five-day metamorphosis is in effect her rebirth into life. She allows her buried feelings, passions and creativity to surface and to be acknowledged. Her brief stay also influences other patients in the hospital, as they too undergo their own rebirth into the joy of living.

The ending of this tale will come as a surprise to some readers, to others maybe not. Nonetheless, this book is excellent and will re-confirm to the reader just how precious, joyous and love-filled life is. This book also brings home many messages, the most important one being - life is what you make it - it is your choice and your choice alone - one can either live life to the fullest or be a walking zombie as Veronika was.

I thoroughly recommend this book as another inspiring and thought provoking book by Paulo Coelho. I very much look forward to his next book.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A story about life, not death..., June 1, 2000

By	Jemmi Silver (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Veronika Decides to Die (Hardcover)

The premise of this novel seemed intriguing. It promised to deal not so much with the events that would lead to Veronika's suicide, but rather the consequences. And not the effect on her friends and family (as most novels about the after effects of suicide are), but rather the effect her suicide would have on HER.  Not only that, by turning the death BY a person into a slow, agonising death OF a person, Paul Coelho has created an utterly involving and original idea. Indeed would it not be the ruminating and waiting that will haunt you to the end? Meaning, if you knew that you were to die in five days time, would it not a given that you would wonder and regret? Questions like "Have I lived my life to the fullest, have I done all I'd ever wanted to achieve, what more could I have contributed to the world, etc?" These questions pertain to life: what has been achieved and what could have been accomplished had one been given the chance to live? And so, because of this, "Veronika Decides to Die" is not a story of death, but one of life.

And there was the mistake, mostly on my part I guess. This was a story of inspiration. I expected one of death; one which dealt with suicide and the anguish, regret and horror.

Suicide is a very complicated issue, and seemed not to play a big part in Veronika's story. It (along with her impending, seemingly inevitable death) acted merely as a catalyst towards her expected desire to live and experience that which she had not before. Paul Coelho could have really pushed this issue, and come up with something very real and very dark. Instead, we are left with something very surreal.

The story also feels disjointed, with the author introducing four or five (if you include himself) characters to the story. We are given backgrounds to each character and told then how Veronika's desire for life in the face of death, changes each of them. By doing this, however, the reader is left feeling dissatisfied, having just been introduced to these characters, but learning little else about them.

Of course, Paul Coelho is too good a story teller to write a false sounding tale and taking that into account, I must admit it was extremely well written and the issues that WERE dealt with were thoroughly argued and acted out with enough irony to leave the reader smiling. The issue of madness, for example, was dealt with superbly and in light of that, perhaps the surreal feel of the story was appropriate.

Therefore, this was a story about life, not death, and about the madness of living life to the fullest. The insanity behind doing what you want, when you want, feeling however you wish to feel and loving with no other desire than to love. As opposed to conforming to what society deems as "normal" behaviour.