Veronika Decides to Die in Pick-a-Shelf

Mar 27, 2009 Misty rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2009, social-commentary, translated, international-multicultural

I'm actually leaning more toward a 3.5 for this, but I bumped it up because I know it will be something I will think about for a while. There is a tendency toward didacticism, which I am thinking is just Coelho's style, and I am sure there will be people who bash this for being too obvious and earnest, but it is thought provoking none the less. Its the sort of book where you dont so much question the characters as much as you question yourself, and that is bound to make some uncomfortable. ...more

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Jul 23, 2009 Christina rated it liked it

Shelves: 2009-reads, contemporary

While I liked this, I felt like there was something missing. I don't know what I expected, really. Something profound, some life-altering realisation. Something.

The ending was not a surprise; I expected it. I'm wondering if by reading so much of Chuck Palahniuk, I've learnt to expect the unexpected when it comes to novels, or if everyone else saw the "twist" coming as well. Was it meant to be a twist for the audience, or just for Veronika? I'm curious.

I'm not quite sure what I DID like about th ...more

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Apr 04, 2015 Nancy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: philosophy, literature, mental-illness

I actually found this book surprisingly enjoyable. I am sure I have read it before - probably many years ago - and I was aware that it was a book designed to 'make you think', but it's life affirming message was readable and subtle enough not to make the book a drag. Veronika attempts suicide not because she's depressed but because she sees life as mundane, repetitive and meaningless. Taken to a mental hospital after her attempt, she is told that she only has days to live due to complications fr ...more

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May 03, 2011 Joanie rated it it was ok

Shelves: from-the-library, 1001-book-list, 2011

Oh boy. I was really looking forward to this one after my bookclub friends had all raved about it but I really had to struggle to finish this tiny (just over 200 pages in my copy) book.

Maybe I'm just getting too cynical and jaded but this felt like self help disguised as fiction. I felt like I was reading The Christmas Shoes or The Christmas Box or something equally painful. I was so agitated while reading this it was all I could do to stop myself from chucking the book across the room. Maybe it ...more

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Aug 02, 2008 Joanna rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001, kindle, 2012-read, rws-2012-fall

This is my second try at a Coelho book. I read, and hated, The Devil and Miss Prym. I didn't hate Veronika. But I found the constant moralizing completely unmoving and the story itself not particularly interesting. Yes, genius and insanity are related. Yep, everyone's a bit nuts. Yep, insane asylums, particularly the further back you go in time and the further from the United States you travel, are pretty screwed up. But there was so much more that could have been done with these themes to make ...more

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Dec 19, 2008 Gracee marked it as to-read

I saw the trailer of the movie Veronika decides to die and i was intrigued with the novel that is why i wanted to read it. Maybe this christmas vacation i'll buy the book and read it =) ...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Lindsey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2014-summer-challenge, audiobooks, psychology, fiction, gr-authors, 2014

I had no clue that one of my favorite bands, Saturnus, named one of their very best albums after this book. I thought they had come up with the title :P Very interesting! Not sure if I will read this or not...

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