Veronika Decides to Die

Why on the earth would someone wants to die???

Precisely - but even more daringly - why would anyone wants to commit suicide??

Before starting with Veronika, let me ponder on some possibilities first : Had a terrible break up? Lost loved ones? Life is not how you planned it to be? and the list goes on...

Now coming to Veronika, a young woman from Slovenia in her mid-20's, seems to have everything that she wished for - Beauty, Boyfriend(s), Perfect Job and a Loving Family. Yet, she feels some kind of emptiness in her and do not want to continue with her life by following the same mundane routine every-single-day. 

And hence, Veronika Decides to Die..!!

And Veronika did take an overdose of sleeping pills..!!

Unfortunately, she wakes up from coma in a Villette, a local mental hospital. She comes to know that she partially achieved what she wanted, when the staff tells her that she only has a week to live. By then, she is half frustrated and half impatient..!!

Frustrated because, she is in a MENTAL hospital where everyone around are insanely crazy. And Impatient because, she has almost zero chance to escape from there so that she can atleast try to be successful in her next attempt. And with no other choice left, she had to wait for one whole week.

Accepting the fact that she is in a MENTAL hospital and knowing no one would judge or care about her, Veronika decides to spend that one week on her own terms doing whatever she wanted and being however she liked.

But her stay in villette and her dying condition, changed the perspective towards life for the other people who met her in the villette. Among them were Zedka, a clinical depression patient, Mari with panic attacks and finally Eduard with Schizophrenia.

(It's a MENTAL hospital remember? No one is present there for having fun. So, everyone has their own tags..!!)

Meanwhile, the Villette's head Dr. Igor, along with treating the patients, works on his thesis which actually became the source of the main twist in the story. And Dr. Igor is really eager to put an end to his thesis which is also accomplished at the end - All thanks to Veronika..!!

Coming back to Veronika, because of her new found freedom, she discovers things that she never felt before and things that she never knew were existed in her - Hatred, Fear, Curiosity, Love, Sexual Awakening. 

There after, every moment is like a choice between life and death for her. She discovers a new world around her and want to experience it everyday facing new opportunities and challenges. Veronika realizes that she did not do a lot of things which can actually make her happy and fulfilled.  

With only few hours left, in her so called dying life, she escapes from the villette with Eduard (the schezophreniac) to witness the world one last time. But there are still some surprising twists and turns in her life yet to be unboxed..!!

Based on Paulo Coelho's own life events, 'Veronika Decides to Die' talks about the meaning of madness which few people like to enjoy instead of fitting into the societal norms of being normal.

Read this book to know five stories (not one), who met in a MENTAL HOSPITAL and who are actually not meant to be there in a Villette. 

P.S : I already mentioned the 5 names here..!!

Happy Reading :)

Source - Audio book : Storytel