Veronika Decides to Die: A Novel of Redemption (P.S.) (Paperback)

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!

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.

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.