Veronika Decides to Die

First line: On 11 November 1997, Veronika decided that the moment to kill herself had – at last - arrived

‘Veronika decides to die’ by Paulo Coelho tells about the 7 days of Veronika, which she lived in Villete while waiting for the hands of death to touch her.

Veronika, who appears to have perfect life decides to commit suicide by taking sleeping pills in excess. But her plan fails and when she wakes up, she finds herself in Villete, an asylum in Slovenia. Doctor tells her that she has only a week left to live her life because of the damage she had caused to her heart. During her stay in Villete she explores the different versions of Veronika who stayed within her without getting the opportunity to come out. Her stay also affects Mari and Eduard, making them to take the important decision of their life. Finally Veronika and Eduard falls in love with each other.

Paulo Coelho had tried to tell about the importance of living our life as we like and he had succeeded in it. He tells that most of the people live their life fearing what others will think? And how sometimes the love of one destroys the life of other?

From the first page to the last page Coelho had carried the story in an interesting way. This book changed my thoughts about mental asylum. Coelho’s explanation about mad people, scientific reasons behind it and the stories of Zedka, Mari and Eduard made me to thoroughly enjoy this book. Just after reading the first four pages I decided that I should somehow find and read all the books of Paulo Coelho. I give four and a half stars for this book.