The title character of Veronika Decides to Die seems to have achieved that coveted decoction of the Good Life—comfortable job, loving family, her own place and a string of attractive lovers. Therefore, she decides to die so as to retire at what she perceives to be the peak of her career. After all, what is the point of living if you know that tomorrow would never be better than today? The twist, of course, is when she accidentally survives. The morning after she overdoses on sleeping pills, Veronika wakes up in a mental asylum, having apparently survived her suicide attempt. However, it turns out that her effort has left her with irreparable heart damage and, at the most, two weeks to live. Perhaps she ought to have felt relief as her plan had only suffered a slight detour. But.
Life-and-death is central to the book, as is madness. Through Veronika’s interactions with the inmates of the asylum, we glimpse the vast limits to which the human mind can foray. The way insanity is weaved through the narrative questions the supposedly solid basis of normalcy. Veronika is revealed to us as having lived a thoroughly repressed life, one in compliance with the norms set by society. And so, the unabashed authenticity of the lives of the supposedly insane shakes her entire understanding of reality. Here, Coelho joins life, death and madness in an inextricable tangle which leads us to question whether true freedom lies in the realm of lunacy.
The pacing of the novel is in sync with its narrative. It starts off slow, repetitive, almost lazy—quite like Veronika’s life. Then, as her mental state undergoes profound and rapid changes, the pacing picks up, morose overtones giving way to panic, despair and finally, hope.
In this novel, Paulo Coelho shows us a woman who finds reasons to live when she is finally standing face to face with death. It shows how accepting our fragile mortality unlocks an unquenchable thirst to live. It is a story about life, told with the grim overtone of death. For me, it seems to say that the world is not all black-and-white and that even the grays run a shade deeper than what is immediately apparent. And how, at the end of the day, human relations—including the one with yourself—are what matters the most. Coelho provides an interesting perspective on the difference between living and merely breathing. Veronika Decides to Die is a short read that will leave you thinking long after you have turned the last page.
Edited by Swathi C S
Article 19 