Books : Veronika Decides to Die: A Novel of Redemption (P.S.)

Rating: - A magical book about life under the shadow of death
veronika was a beautiful young woman with every thing going her way she could have any man she wanted...and infact she was having them too..she was all that a person could think in her age ...so why did she want to die? well because she had every thing. she decides that she has done every thing in life that makes it worth living for....and from now on each day of her life will just be a repetition of the earlier experiences. so she takes an over dose and wait for death to take her. but that would not make very good reading, not to mention it would only last one chapter...so she doesnt die..and this is precisely where the story begins. She is saved and she goes to a mental hospital where she is told she has but three weeks left to live. so this book looks at her last moments in this world, and it looks at the different ideals behind being mad and what people think. paul coelho uses not only Vernika's story but tells you the stories of other patients putting plenty of plot into it. it certainly changed my opinion of mad people. this is a definet read it has changed my life and made me think in a better way about life. Madness it seems is really worth it. what are you waiting for ...dont be a madman..go buy it now!

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Rating: - Veronika Decides to Live
What would it take to break our own rules about our own lives? When do we finally decide to change the rules to find happiness? Sometimes it helps to have a deadline.

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Rating: - Awareness of death
I've read Veronica decides to die after a recommendation from a very avid reader. If you read Alchemist, you can understand why Coelho writes the way he does. to me, his writings are away of depicting the human nature, and challanging it with it's own dreams. that's how Veronica got trapped in between her dreams and her reality.
The plot was strong, but how people were quickly effected by Veronica was too fast, they didn't have the chance to know her well to be in any way a change in their lives. that's the only downpart i see.

but you just can't resist a Coelho story!

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Rating: - Life is a miracle!
Witty.. charming.. funny..another journey to self-discovery and enlightment. Coelho takes you to depths you yourself take in times of hardships and happiness trying to find any kind of explanation to questions we ask ourselves everyday!

Veronika draws a picture of her future life based on her own path that she has taken .. useless .. fruitless .. nothing special .. she decides to die because she didn't like what she saw. Life in a mental hospital opened up her eyes and mind, and eventually her heart to view life from a different angle. ..through the help of other patients, and not to forget her doctor.

I've found the ending really surprising to such a serious subject .. but I think it understates how we sometimes blow things to larger proportions and forget about what really matters.

I really enjoyed it! Veronika was just a means to an end that Coelho intended to prove. Everyday is a miracle, so enjoy it and make the best of it. Love and friends make a big part of our lives. Many simple things .. a walk by a lake, a friend's smile, a blooming flower, we take for granted are actually a reminder of our own miracle on this planet!

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Rating: - A Charming Parable
When Veronika decides to commit suicide it is not from profound depression but from boredom and emptiness. When she wakes up from her overdose she finds herself in an old fashioned literary "asylum" where the treatments are--to say the least--unorthodox. There she learns that she has damaged her heart and will in fact die in little more than a week. And from there, the parable unfolds.

Faced with the real possibility of death, Veronika begins to appreciate life. The author develops his theme artfully. Follow your vision, he says, live in the moment, make the most of your fleeting time. Do not waste your life trying to meet the expectations of others, but do what you have always dreamed of doing.

Unfortunately the author is just a bit heavy-handed in making these points. The story of Veronika's commitment to a mental hospital is a very personal issue with author Coelho--indeed he himself makes a brief appearance in the story to underline this point. I wish he had been more subtle and let the readers draw their own conclusions. Still, the book is readable, lucid and charming. I recommend it. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber