Product Description

Twenty-four-year-old Veronika seems to have everything -- youth and beauty, boyfriends and a loving family, a fulfilling job. But something is missing in her life. So, one cold November morning Veronika decides to die. She takes a handful of sleeping pills expecting never to wake up. But she does -- at a mental hospital where she is told that she has only days to live.

This poignant international bestseller by the author of The Alchemist takes readers on a quest to find meaning in a culture overshadowed by angst, soulless routine, and pervasive conformity. Based on events in Coelho's own life, Veronika Decides to Die questions the meaning of madness and celebrates individuals who do not fit into patterns society considers to be normal. Bold and illuminating, it is a dazzling portrait of a young woman at the crossroads of despair and liberation, and a poetic, exuberant appreciation of each day as a renewed opportunity.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #177521 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-26
• Released on: 2001-05-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From Amazon.com
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

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.

From Library Journal
After an overdose, Veronika goes on living--and looking for life's meaning.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Inpiring, but still overrated !!
Ok I'll start with the pros, then I'll lash out the cons at the end.....first of all, I do think the plot of "Veronika Decides to Die" is intriguing and original (a young woman suffers a failed suicide attempt and lands in a mental hospital, suspended somewhere between life and death, believing her days to be limited due to irreversible heart failure and acting upon this belief. During her stay at the hospital, her closeness to death renews in her an appreciation of the life she had attempted to take away. Through her exchanges with her inmates, she learns about love, madness, dreams, freedom and the need to break free from self-imposed inhibitions and social "norms." Here, some interesting questions are raised in the novel...what IS the "norm"? why does society fear that which is different/erratic/new? why is being "different" considered a kind of madness? and who is madder....those who live as they please or those who destroy their dreams and limit their potential in order to conform?

The intended message is inspiring and beautiful .. one must discover the true value of life, the richness with with it can be lived, the meaning of living it. We should not be apathetic and resigned to the dull norms, instead we should savor every mad moment, every whim, every impulse we feel...so long as we do not cause destruction to those around us....sing in the rain, climb a mountain, paint, dance, laugh with the joy of life and living, unleash the individual within you and cry, scream, go out and follow your dream. It is an inspiring approach to our existence and the book answers to a modern-day malaise inflicting thousands of people world wide: boredom/apathy/depression. All of us meet face-to-face with sadness and emptiness at some point in our lives, and at such times we should take heed of some of Coelho's inspiring words in the novel: "the 2 hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment, and the courage not to be dissapointed with what you encounter along the way" ..... there's another assertion by Veronika that I enjoyed reading: "to smell the earth is to feel alive" and "the meaninglessness of life was no one's fault but mine". A beautiful message, much needed in this age of prozac and therapy...

HOWEVER, I am a very objective and critical reader, and my interest in the book's main idea does not change what I've always believed to be true about Paulo Coelho: he IS an overrated writer and a bit of a pseudo-philosopher as well....yes, he is interesting, but if you read his works, for example "Veronika", you realise that the entire book revolves around one very elementary idea that he fluffs up with pretty parables and cute little symbols and metaphors JUST to give the illusion of profundity....and while he's at it, he makes it a point to mention his own admission to a mental hospital in order to appeal to the reader's sympathy and to re-confirm that he writes what he writes out of personal experience and depth of feeling.... it is so obviously fake....unfortunately, though, this is what sells his books: he appeals to an exoteric, moderately intelligent audience whilst allowing them to believe that they have just read a work of great depth and perception ... and many also think that his "simple" vocabulary is a sign of his unpretentious, down-to-earth persona ....I think its just a sign of bad writing.

Yes, the book's message is great, yes, life should be lived happily and yes, one should sit back and assess the meaning of their existence and what they can do with their lives, but for god's sake if you're looking for depth, go out and read Hesse, Roth, Dostoevsky......ignore the Coelho fad and start giving credit where real credit is due! And in case you're still wondering, the 4 stars are for the IDEA/PLOT and not for the WRITING/DEPTH.

Everyone should read this book!
Failing to successfully take her own life, Veronika wakes to discover she is nonetheless dying, with very little time left to her - except that now, she will finally learn to appreciate life, just as it's slipping from her grasp... Paolo Coelho's simple yet elegant writing takes the reader on a journey off the beaten path as Veronika learns what it is to live... Everyone should read this book.

Paulo Decides to Retire
Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1947, has been awarded France's Legion d'Honneur, Italy's Grinzane Cavour and was inducted into the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 2002. "Veronika Decides to Die" is his twelfth book and was first published in 1998.

The story begins in late 1997 and follows the story of Veronika - a twenty four year old woman living in Slovenia. The book begins with her attempted suicide : however, having overdosed on tranquilisers, she is discovered in time and taken to hospital before she dies. The hospital in question is Vilette - a well known asylum in Ljubljana. Although she has survived, she is told - due to the damage the tranquilisers have done to her heart - she only has about a week to live. Having always kept herself firmly under control, Veronika finds herself broadening her range of experiences and feelings, and gradually comes to see her life as something worth living. Her arrival in Vilette also has an impact on some of the asylum's other patients - specifically, Eduard (a schizophrenic), Zedka (who suffers from depression) and Mari (who suffers from panic attacks).

This is an absolutely awful book : rather than "beautiful", "poetic" or "inspiring", I've never found writing so bland. Despite her situation, Coelho finds himself incapable of establishing any empathy with or sympathy for Veronika. In fact, I even think he wrote about the wrong character - Zedka's story, in the hands of an author up to the task, is a story I'd rather have heard. Coelho's decision to include himself in the story stank of ego, and the way that he wrote that section ("Paulo Coelho wanted to know all the details of what had happened" rather than "I wanted to know all the details of what had happened") was really irritating. The only apparent hobby the patients had - a solitary pastime known to some as 'merchant banking' - was given too high a profile : Veronika's activities on this front were irrelevant and did nothing to help the story. Then again, Coelho has spent some time in an asylum as a patient - perhaps he knows something I don't. Unfortunately, he just doesn't seem capable of putting what he knows into words : avoid this book at all costs.