“Veronika Decides to Die” by Paulo Coelho – What is Happiness?

Paulo Coelho, even though he has started to publish books relatively late in his life, has become quite known for being willing to explore heavier and more controversial themes, and in Veronika Decides to Die he does so inspiring himself from his own life.

The story starts off by presenting Veronika, a woman by all measures should be happy: she is young, beautiful, popular, has a lot of friends, a loving family, boyfriends, and a job that she actually kind of likes.

However, she never exactly feels complete, despite everything being seemingly perfect. And so, on a cold November morning, she decides to kill herself by overdosing on pills. However, she wakes up not in the afterlife but in a mental hospital, where some bad news are given to her: she only as a few days left to live.

Needless to say, this is one of Paulo’s more tragic works of writing, and yet, somehow it still manages to be uplifting. Paulo doesn't just take the beaten path and looking into how Veronika starts to value each day she has left. Instead, he uses that situation in order to explore a few essential questions, most notably: what is it to be mad, and what is it to be happy?

What perspective should we have of life every day?

Are we conditioned by society to believe we are happy once we have crossed certain milestones?

How valuable is life, really? What do we live for?

Being a true Paulo Coelho novel, the answers aren't given to you straight up, although the language in this novel is easy and simple to understand. The answers to the many layers of philosophical questions are provided more or less through thoughts, actions, and events which revolve around Veronika.

More precisely, Paulo gives you his answer to those questions, and tells you to go on your journey to find them for yourself.

There are no universal answers to those questions; each person interprets them differently in light of his or her own life and experience. If deep and philosophical readings are your thing, you should definitely have a crack at Veronika Decides to Die.

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Paulo Coelho Personal site Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian novelist and lyricist, sometimes known by the name of Paul Rabbit. His unusual and deeply-moving novels have made of him one of the most widely-read authors today, earning him an array of international awards, including the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum. His most famous novel, The Alchemist, has been translated in over 67 languages to date.