‘Veronika has everything she could wish for- young and pretty, with plenty of attractive boyfriends, a steady job, a loving family. Yet Veronika is not happy and one winter’s morning she takes an overdose of sleeping pills, only to wake up some time later in the local 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..
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 have to make between living and dying. This is a moving and uplifting song to life, one that reminds us that every moment in our lives is special and precious.’
Goodreads Rating: 3.7/5
‘Veronika Decides to Die’ sounds like your clichéd “life is wonderful, enjoy every moment” type of book- which it is. Yet there is something extra going on behind the words on the pages, a sense of there being another, grander message hidden in there somewhere.
This book by the wonderful Paul Coehlo follows Veronika through the week of her life immediately after her suicide attempt and prior to her inevitable death. She is institutionalized in a Slovenian mental hospital and reiterates her thoughts on the mediocre, everyday things we all take for granted.. When Veronika was told she would die in a matter of days, she decided she wanted to live.
‘I need to run the risk of being alive.’
I’ve read many books over the past few years which included very intricate characters and abstract theories, but VDTD takes the biscuit. In layman’s terms ‘This book blew my mind.’ It is a book about self-discovery, yet I wouldn’t consider it a self-help book- please do not go into this book, or any book for that matter, expecting anything from it. A book owes the reader nothing.
Freedom is a major theme throughout the book, a theme which is first introduced by the word ‘Decides’ in the title. Veronika felt trapped and enslaved by the things which should have brought her happiness in her life: her boyfriend, her job and her popularity. Over the course of the week Veronika realizes her true reasons for wanting to end her life, and why she wants to carry on.
One of the most interesting parts about the book is that it is told from multiple perspectives: Veronika Deklava, Dr. Igor, and even other inpatients in the mental hospital. If for nothing else, one must give Coehlo credit for flawlessly combinging as all these different, perceptive characters in to the same book. This book is so much more than a day-to-day account of life in a mental institution.
‘The danger of adventure is worth a thousand days of ease and comfort.’
Under no circumstances is VDTD an easy read- it hurts the reader, it makes the reader think, but best of all, it makes the reader fall for the story. It is truly a masterpiece that I would highly recommend to anyone who ever wondered ‘What are we ACTUALLY doing here?’
∞∞∞
A ‘must’ for anyone who heartily enjoyed:
- ‘Thirteen Reasons Why’- Jay Asher
- ‘Girl, Interrupted’- Susanna Kaysen
- ‘The Outsiders’- S.E Hinton
- ‘If I Stay’- Gayle Forman
- ‘All The Bright Places’- Jennifer Niven