Veronica Decides to Die is an interesting story about a young woman called “Veronica” who wants to die but her suicide is not successful and she finds herself in “Villet”, a place for the insane and also the sane. Though she insists on the job she has started, some events, relationships and her doctor’s trick changes her view toward her life.

The story is colored by the author’s intimate knowledge of the world of mental hospitals, the relationships, and the comfort and anxiety of living in such a place. The story of insanity and madness in contrast to the monotony of life, like other Coelho’s publications such as Alchemist, provokes the feeling of self-discovery and the power of challenging all limitations and traditions.

In the atmosphere Coelho creates, you learn that being different doesn’t mean being mad and you understand that the “reality is something the majority deems to be, not necessary the best or the most logical one.”

In the vivid moments of the story you can feel love and religious beliefs are the most important feelings one can have in one’s life. You also recognize how one can stop one’s feelings like fear, hatred and love and let them emerge in a way which makes one fresh without any “vitrol” (mind’s bitterness), the poison believed to be the cause of insanity.

Some readers, including specialists, may find the characters and events happening in “Villet” odd, but the curiosity of many others about mental hospitals will be satisfied. In this book you have a chance to become familiar with mental problems, not exactly pictured from the perspective of clinicians, but from the view of a person who has experienced the signs personally.

Veronica Decides to Die is an odd challenge between life and death. The one, which helps you to realize that every moment of life, is a precious gift–a miracle! Read it once, and you might find the answer of some of your numerous questions about life!

Categories: Fiction