[ohiofan]

Thanks, Apollo!

Several quotes about the story and the author:

"In his brilliant novel about the aftermath of a young woman's suicide attempt, Paulo Coelho explores three perennial themes: conformity, madness, and death. Twenty-four-year-old Veronika lives in Slovenia, one of the republics created by the dissolution of Yugoslavia. She works as a librarian by day, and by night carries on like many single women - dating men, occasionally sleeping with them, and returning to a single room she rents at a convent. It is a life, but not a very compelling one. So one day, Veronika decides to end it. Her failed attempt, and her inexplicable reasons for wanting to die, land her in a mental hospital." -- Variety

"In this deceptively unadorned tale, narrated in a charmingly ironic style, Paul Coelho plumbs the profoundest depths of mores, madness and meaning. Thanks to Coelho's literary mastery and philosophical acuity, this engaging novel attains greatness via simplicity--a marvelous achievement! "
—Lou Marinoff, author of Plato, Not Prozac!

" Coelho does not so much address his readers as confide in them. His style is a kind of eavesdropping, full of lyrical whisperings and confessional asides. "
—Sunday Express (UK)

" With Veronika Decides to Die Coelho's legend keeps growing. "
—La Presna (Argentina)

" A touching fable about learning to live in the face of death. "
—Kirkus Reviews