Editing Veronika Decides to Die

{{Short description|Novel by Paulo Coelho}}
{{About|the 1998 novel|the film based on the novel|Veronika Decides to Die (film)|the record album|Veronika Decides to Die (album)}}
{{Infobox book
| name          = Veronika Decides to Die
| title_orig    = Veronika Decide Morrer
| translator    =
| image         = Veronika Decides to Die.jpg
| caption       = First edition cover
| author        = [[Paulo Coelho]]
| illustrator   =
| cover_artist  = [[Hieronymus Bosch]],<br>"[[Cutting the Stone]]", {{circa}} 1494
| country       = [[Brazil]]
| language      = [[Portuguese Language|Portuguese]]
| series        =
| genre         =
| publisher     =
| release_date  = 1998<ref>Richard Young, Odile Cisneros. {{cite book | title=Historical Dictionary of Latin American Literature and Theater | publisher=Scarecrow Press | year=2010 | isbn=978-0-8108-7498-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i0ZyleoLY5UC&pg=PA137 | page=137}}</ref>
| english_release_date =
| media_type    = Print ([[Hardcover]], [[Paperback]])
| pages         = 210 pages (Paperback)
| isbn          = 0-06-095577-5
| oclc= 47204184
| preceded_by   =
| followed_by   =
}}

{{more citations needed|date=October 2021}}
'''''Veronika Decides to Die''''' ({{langx|pt|Veronika Decide Morrer}})<ref>Michael Sollars, Arbolina Llamas Jennings. {{cite book | title=The Facts on File Companion to the World Novel: 1900 to the Present | publisher=Infobase Publishing | year=2008 | isbn=978-1-4381-0836-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SXkVKq86YIkC&pg=PA169 | page=169}}</ref> is a [[novel]] by [[Paulo Coelho]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Why writer Paulo Coelho, who turns 75, is a global guru | website=Hindustan Times | date=23 August 2022 | url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/lifestyle/art-culture/why-writer-paulo-coelho-who-turns-75-is-a-global-guru-101661266209303.html |publisher=Deutsche Welle}}</ref> It tells the story of Veronika, a 24-year-old Slovenian who appears to have everything in life going for her, but who decides to kill herself. This book is partly based on Coelho's experience in various [[mental institution]]s (see the biography ''[[Confessions of a Pilgrim]]'' by Juan Arias), and deals with the subject of madness. The gist of the message is that "collective madness is called sanity".

==Plot summary==
Veronika is a young woman from [[Ljubljana]], [[Slovenia]], who appears to have a perfect life, but nevertheless decides to commit suicide by overdosing with sleeping pills. While she waits to die, she cancels the suicide letter she starts to her parents while suddenly provoked by a magazine article.

The magazine article wittily asks "Where is Slovenia?", so she writes a letter to the press justifying her suicide, the idea is to make the press believe that she has killed herself because people don't even know where Slovenia is. Her plan fails and she wakes up from the coma in Villette, a mental hospital in Slovenia, where she is told she has only a few days to live due to heart condition caused by the overdose.

Her presence there affects all of the mental hospital's patients, especially Zedka, who has [[clinical depression]]; Mari, who has [[panic attacks]]; and Eduard, who has [[schizophrenia]], and with whom Veronika falls in love. During her internment in Villette she realizes that she has nothing to lose and can, therefore, do what she wants, say what she wants and be who she wants without having to worry about what others think of her; as a mental patient, she is unlikely to be criticized. Because of this new-found freedom, Veronika experiences all the things she never allowed herself to experience, including hatred and love.

In the meantime, Villette's head psychiatrist, Dr. Igor, attempts a fascinating but provocative experiment: can you "shock" someone into wanting to live by convincing her that death is imminent? Like a doctor applying [[defibrillator]] paddles to a [[heart attack]] victim, Dr. Igor's "prognosis" jump-starts Veronika's new appreciation of the world around her.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Paulo Coelho}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Veronika Decides To Die}}
[[Category:1998 Brazilian novels]]
[[Category:20th-century Brazilian novels]]
[[Category:Books about depression]]
[[Category:Brazilian novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Brazilian novels adapted into plays]]
[[Category:Novels about suicide]]
[[Category:Novels by Paulo Coelho]]
[[Category:Novels set in Europe]]
[[Category:Portuguese-language novels]]
[[Category:Novels set in Slovenia]]