Veronika Decides to Die: A Novel of Redemption
by Paulo Coelho
List Price:
Our Price: $6.98
You Save: $8.01 (53%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.97 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Paulo CoelhoEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-05-23
ISBN: 5955000836
Number of pages: 240
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Book Reviews of Veronika Decides to Die: A Novel of Redemption
Book Review: Dying equals a new lease on life
Summary: 5 Stars
I picked up this book upon the recommendation of a friend, and finished it in less than a day. I can't remember the last time a piece of literature touched me so much. Thank God this is a slim paperback and relatively inexpensive, because I'm buying up several copies to distribute to friends whose perspective on life is in a state of flux.
"Veronika Decides To Die" is the story of an intelligent young woman who lives according to society's expectations. She is dutiful to her parents, respectful to others, goes to church.... and she wants to die, because a life governed by the expectations of others is a farce, and has reduced her to a breathing marionette. She overdoses on sleep aids, ends up in a Slovenian mental hospital, and is informed that irreversible damage has been done to her heart. She has five days to live at the most.
These allotted days turn out to be the only time in her life that she truly LIVES. Artistically, sexually, emotionally, she plunges into a series of explorations and adventures that allow her to become an independent being and not the product of societal expectations. While not advocating anarchy, author Coelho uses Veronika's journey to illustrate that total compliance with external demands doesn't only regulate existance- it also strips it of meaning.
Through the character of the hospital's chief medical officer, Dr. Igor, Coelho introduces the concept of a silent emotional killer called Vitriol. This phenomenon, which takes its name from a poison favored in medieval times by emperors, kings, and disenchanted lovers, sets in when, according to Coehlo, sufferers "build exaggeratedly high defenses against the outside world.... and leave their inner world stripped bare. It is there that bitterness begins its irrevocable work." Sufferers like Veronika find social rebels "a perennial source of fascination, for they... will forge ahead regardless of what other people say... and the embittered would spend many days and nights remarking on the absurdity and the glory (of their actions)." Like my friend, singer Pete Burns, once remarked, "When you go your own way, you become a mirror for other people's insecurities." He's right. I was guilty of the same tunnel vision before I unshackled myself.
I defy anyone to read "Veronika Decides To Die" and come away feeling the same about so-called normalcy. While Paulo Coelho does not, as previously stated, advocate anarchy and endangerment of one's self or others, he does encourage readers, through Veronika's example, to live each minute as if it might be your last, and treat your life like the precious gift it is.
Summary of Veronika Decides to Die: A Novel of Redemption
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, 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.
Inspired by 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.
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
Latin American Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Latin American Books
El otoño del patriarca (Vintage Espanol) (Spanish Edition)by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Vintage; Published: 2010-08-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.93
Price in other shops:
Cien años de soledad (Vintage Espanol) (Spanish Edition)by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Vintage; Published: 2009-09-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.78
Price in other shops:
Yawar Fiesta (Texas Pan American Series)by Jose Maria Arguedas
Univ of Texas Pr; Published: 1985-03; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Neruda: An Intimate Biography (Texas Pan American Series)by Volodia Teitelboim
University of Texas Press; Published: 1991-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $75.32
The Shattered Mirror: Representations of Women in Mexican Literature (Texas Pan American Series)by María Elena de Valdés
University of Texas Press; Published: 1998; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Convergences: Essays on Art and Literatureby Octavio Paz
Mariner Books; Published: 1991-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.38
Price in other shops:
Poems of the Night: A Dual-Language Edition with Parallel Text (Penguin Classics)by Jorge Luis Borges
Penguin Classics; Published: 2010-03-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.63
Price in other shops:
The Book of Imaginary Beings (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)by Jorge Luis Borges
Penguin Classics; Published: 2006-09-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
Zorroby Isabel Allende
Harper Perennial; Published: 2006; Paperback; Book
La novia oscura: Novela (Esenciales) (Spanish Edition)by Laura Restrepo
Rayo; Published: 2009-05-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.64
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Brida: A Novel (P.S.)by Paulo Coelho
Harper Perennial; Published: 2009-02-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.48
Price in other shops:
The Witch of Portobello: A Novel (P.S.)by Paulo Coelho
Harper Perennial; Published: 2008-02-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.36
Price in other shops:
The Fifth Mountain: A Novel (P.S.)by Paulo Coelho
Harper Perennial; Published: 2009-02-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.34
Price in other shops:
The Devil and Miss Prym: A Novel of Temptation (P.S.)by Paulo Coelho
Harper Perennial; Published: 2007-04-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.91
Price in other shops:
The Valkyriesby Paulo Coelho
HarperOne; Published: 1996-08-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
The Zahir: A Novel of Obsession (P.S.)by Paulo Coelho
Harper Perennial; Published: 2006-07-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.98
Price in other shops:
By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept: A Novel of Forgivenessby Paulo Coelho
Harper Perennial; Published: 2006-05-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.77
Price in other shops:
The Pilgrimage (Plus)by Paulo Coelho
HarperOne; Published: 2008-09-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.46
Price in other shops:
Warrior of the Light: A Manualby Paulo Coelho
HarperOne; Published: 2004-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.51
Price in other shops:
Eleven Minutes: A Novel (P.S.)by Paulo Coelho
Harper Perennial; Published: 2005-03-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.98
Price in other shops: