Veronika Decides to Die

woman, finds herself in a mental institution in Slovenia after a failed suicide attempt. Told she has only days to live because of the overdose's damage to her heart, Veronika begins to re-evaluate her life. The characters Veronika meets provide the catalyst for her self-reflection: Zedka, the depressed housewife; Mari, the lawyer who gave up her dreams for panic attacks; and Eduard, a schizophrenic artist who has spent his life denying love. Dr. Igor, the administrator of the mental hospital plays a pivotal role in this philosophical novel and his theories of insanity are used to question the idea of normalcy.

"I'm trying to study so-called normal human behavior. A lot of doctors before me have done similar studies and reached the conclusion that normality is merely a matter of consensus; that is, a lot of people think something is right, and so that thing becomes right." -From Veronika Decides to Die, page 166-

While I was reading this book, I began to think about the children and adults with Autism who I have had the privilege of working with...at a seminar several years ago a Speech Pathologist told the story of a young boy with Autism. Whenever he would flap his hands around his face, the boy's mother would caution him, "Stop that. Don't you want to be normal?" And the boy would agree, yes normalcy was what he wanted. One day the Speech Pathologist asked the boy, "Do you know what normal is?" And the boy confidently replied, "Sure. It's a setting on the dryer." I laughed when I heard this story because it was an example of how words like 'normal' only have meaning within the context of an individual's unique experience. Paulo Coelho makes this same argument in Veronika Decides to Die. Sanity is only defined by universal experiences - those individuals who are different or unique or view the world solely from their own perspective are often labeled "not normal" or "crazy."

Coelho's message in this novel seems to be one of following one's dreams, going against the norm, living life to its fullest. As the character Mari explains:

"When I was still a young lawyer, I read some poems by an English poet, and something he said impressed me greatly: 'Be like the fountain that overflows, not like the cistern that merely contains.' -From Veronika Decides to Die, page 198-

As each character comes face to face with his or her own mortality, they are forced to look back on their lives and explore their failed dreams. They also ponder God and faith.

God was there, and yet people believed they still had to go on looking, because it seemed too simple to accept that life was an act of faith. -From Veronika Decides to Die, page 149-

This is the second Paulo Coelho novel I have read. Coelho has a unique voice and style - philosophical

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