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

Customer Rating:
Summary: Surpisingly one of the Funniest books i have ever read..........
Comment: i love Paolo Coelho's sense of humor....
this book has a lot of humor....
and yet it does not go over the top..........
the most surpising thing of all is that there's always something to learn about life from his novels..........
this is such a fun and funny book that will teach some chapters of life....
and give us HOPE....
Highly recommended!!!!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: wonderful book
Comment: I loved this book. You never expect a book to touch you... this one does.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Inner madness
Comment: My favorite book from Coelho. Read it through almost with one go and will definitely reread it soon. It's so crazy how many people have confined their inner craziness.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Decide to read this.
Comment: This is the first novel I decided to read by Paulo Coelho. Yes, the title is very blunt, quite literal, and perhaps a bit pretentious to a jaded generation who consider such things as "cool". However, the text itself is turely far from pretension. Infact, it's quite modest and dealing with such a subject as suicide and mental institutions, the story becomes simple,honest, and life affirming.

In the first page of Coelho's novel, Veronika decides to die (no pun intended). Her attempt, though, fails, and she awakes in a mental institution where she is told by the head doctor, Dr. Igor, that in her attempted suicide, she had in fact had done serious damage to her body, her heart to be exact, succumbing her to eventual death. So it seems she did succeed. The remainder of the novel is Veronika accepting her fate and allowing herself to become free(for a lack of a better word)or liberated, uninhibited of all the things in life (including herself)that seem to follow routine. Along her "journey" of self-discovery she meets a few people in the institution that more or less guide her in her path (some more inadvertently than others). The outcome is ultimately satisfying though there is a twist that's quite predictable but that's really not the focus of the story's intention. So therefore, it holds little regard.

"Veronika Decides to Die" is genuinely a beautiful story: well written, good, reliable characters, simple but effective message. One doesn't have to be a female to enjoy the story because in the end it's fully universal to everyone including those who've never had the though of suicide in their minds. It's a quick read with much to admire.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: "About living like it is the last day of your life"
Comment: Veronika is a young woman in her 20's that decides life has nothing left to offer her, and comites suicide, only she was not succesful, but instead she wakes up in a mental hospital. She is told that her heart was damaged though, and she has about a week to live. During this time she meets other people comited to this hospital, who do make a contribution to her life, she learns to live like this is the last day of her life, and discovers she now desires to live, so this is what unfolds here. Amazing story who leads to self discovery and to find new meaning to our lives as well as promting us to pursuing dreams that we think are out of our reach, after all what have we got to lose, is better to try reaching our dreams even if they seem improbable than not trying at all.
Living life like an adventure may get us out of our comfort zone, but what is that compared to living a dull life only so that we feel safe!
This book also talks about going deep inside of us, facing all of our feelings, whether we like them or not, not being afraid to have a good look at ourselves, bringing Light to all that we are, otherwise, whatever we are not willing to face can come back to destroy us.
Great book, another Coelho's book that you cannot stop reading until you get to the end!!!

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