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Summary: A magical book about life under the shadow of death
Review: 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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Summary: Veronika Decides to Live
Review: 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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Summary: Awareness of death
Review: 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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Summary: Life is a miracle!
Review: 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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Summary: A Charming Parable
Review: 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
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Summary: Answers the Question: Is Living a Choice?
Review: Coelho says a week is more than enough time for us to accept our destiny.
The second book in his trilogy of stories that takes readers on a journey along a week in the life of ordinary people who face their destiny along with "By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept" and "The Devil and Miss Prym," "Veronika Decides to Die" gives us hope and empowers us in knowing that to live is not a given, but a choice we make every day.
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Summary: It is better to love than not to have fallen at all...
Review: Life is a miracle and a gift, especially when one considers everything that can happen in each second of one's life. How often do we recognize our life as such? Not often enough, according to the characters that Paulo Coelho weaves together in a captivating tale that follows a young woman who fails in her attempt to commit suicide, but must live for a week knowing that her life will end shortly. Although it is a familiar territory (i.e. introducing death as a motivation for living) for novels that trace human beings' search for meaning, the story unfolds with a precision and accuracy rarely touched upon before. It is a perfect book for those who have realized, either in their personal lives or by allowing themselves to be affected by the constant flow of tragic and chaotic headlines from around the world, that life is short, unpredictable, and without room for fear, or hesitations about the past and future. Coelho encourages us, with his illustrations of death and the fragility of life, that all we have is the present and the present must be tackled without doubt and especially without fear, as fear has become a feeling which human beings today have replaced so many of their emotions with. If one allows it to be so, "Veronika Decides to Die" can be a life changing story.
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Summary: A masterpiece
Review: A simply amazing story. About a girl who wishes to commit suicide, as she believes that her life has meaning. After all, she had experienced all that she wanted - why live out the rest? The rest is all downhill from here according to her. It's her choice anyway, her life right? It's a really interesting book that has given me insights on possible reasons about WHY someone would want to commit suicide. One of my friends just recently committed suicide for reasons I could not even begin to guess. People live beautiful lives, and you don't think about it - until it happens to someone who is in your life. You'd never expect it. What a book. The most unexpected ending. It's all about living life to the max, living every second. I don't want to give away too much, but let me say that - the realization of death is something that can help you experience much more of life. Cheers - Vaughan Allison
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Summary: Excellent journey of self discovery
Review: This book and the message it carries is simply amazing. Nowadays, it is really so easy to get caught up in the so-called rat race but not know what you really want from life. My advice is to take a break, read this book and then stop to think. I've always found it sad that less and less people are not taking time to stop and smell the roses and to appreciate the simple joys in life until it's too late. For me, I've realised that the most beautiful things in life are free. You are never too busy to look around you and smile at the wonders of the world. This book is all about that. A great book!
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Summary: Thought provoking and full of Wisdom
Review: This is one of those books that appears as a harmless story in principle, but the wisdom and questioning of your life and your journey will make you not want to put this book down. The writing is inspiring as within the first few pages you are immediately drawn into this tale. The lessons for us all are endless in this treasure. Even if you feel you have all the answers (which none of us do) I suggest you read this and learn even more about yourself. This is the best of Paulo Coehlos work, of which I have read everyhing.
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