What is madness? Has it really got something to do with improper working of mind/brain? Or is it just a different viewpoint of thinking? When someone’s idea, of saying/doing something, doesn’t go well with the philosophy of vast majority’s way of saying/doing something, then, that idea is called as absurd and the originator of that idea is called as mad and the total act is called as madness. But the question is, can majority on the side of wrong, makes it right?.
There are people who act and live in the way they really want, we usually call them mad. And we - so called normal people - on the other hand, suppress our desires, to bring our living in line with the norms set by the society. So who actually is mad? One who is living the life of his/her liking; or the one who kills his/her wishes to be normal in this world of rules and regulations? Well, you may find the answer to this question in Paulo Coelho’s ‘Veronica Decides to Die’ (VDTD).
“All you have to do is to keep your madness in control. You could cry, get worried or angry like any other normal human being, as long as you remembered that, up above, your spirit is laughing out loud at all those thorny situations.”
ABOUT THE PLOT: At 22 years of age, Veronika decides to end her life. She finds it meaningless to keep living the monotones existence with same days and nights, same job and same people around, same routine. So she commits suicide by swallowing multiple pills. But she is saved and finds herself admitted into city mental hospital called ‘Villete’. There she is told by doctor that although her life is saved but its only for the time being as her heart has got severely damaged by the pills she took. It’s only a brief life of a week’s time that she is left with. The week’s time that she spends Villete, among its patients, inspires in her a love for life, provides her with courage to live her life in the way she wants. She, along with the reader, discovers that it’s quite an easy thing to end life with a prompt suicide but its quite a painful thing to wait for the death and spend hours and days in its wait. With each day she finds herself filled with more and more will for life, but all she has is present and to live it better she runs away from the Villete with one of its inmate, (Edward).
VDTD is also the story of some other interesting characters whom Veronika, during her short stay in Villete, inspires to love and live life. Like Zedka, a woman who was once madly in love with a man who now is almost non-existent in her life. She leaves her husband and kids and travel to other corner of the world just to be with that man and when she fails in possessing him ever after all this. She disregards her life and one day find herself in Villete. Then there is Mary, an old woman, lawyer by profession, who wanted to do something different in her life, like working for the deprived ones, but lacks the courage. Then she started to get panic attacks, which after lot of suffering leads her to Villete. Them there is Edward, a young man who wanted to be a painter but under parents pressure, to follow the family‘s ways, discards his heart’s calling only to become a schizophrenic, and later gets admitted to the Villete (forms most interesting sub-plot).
All these characters finds themselves filled with hope and courage towards their life and what they want to do with it, as they watch and observe a young girl so full of life about to die before their very eyes, this awareness of death (what death actually means) seeds in them an awareness of life. But, will they have the courage enough, to go out of Villete and follow what they really like? When she had a life she found it meaningless and wanted to die; and now that death is waiting for her on other side of the a week she finds a meaning in her life and she wants to live. Will she be able to live the best out of those few days? Read ‘Veronika Decides to Die’ to find out?
Its also the story of Dr. Igor, Chief of Villete. He believes that the feeling of bitterness or Vitriol is mostly the cause of madness, which makes us hate life and accept death. Its his belief that only an awareness of death can encourage the awareness of life. He is working on a thesis that would revolutionize the psychiatric world; he is conducting his tests on the patients of Villete. Will they wear result?
ABOUT THE BOOK: ‘When I came here I was depressed. Now I am proud to say that I am mad.’
VDTD paints altogether a different picture of madness and life in a mental hospital. It was a shock to me that there could be people who intentionally want to spend their time in a mental hospital. But then, the reasoning provided to support their decision is justified well. In a mental hospital, you have the freedom of living in the way you want to live; doing what you want to do; and saying what you want to say without worrying much about but the others might think. Well, you are mad and others around are mad too, so who cares. Isn’t that the way we all want to live? Maybe that’s the reason; who ever goes to Villete never wants to come out of it. But then, Villete is a different kind of mental hospital with various privileges which you may not find in other places.
Paulo Coelho, during his earlier years, was admitted to a mental hospital by his parents (for wanting to be a writer and living the life of his dreams). It’s somewhat his own experiences that he has shared through VDTD. One can notice the biographical touch in the sub-plot of Edward.
VDTD talks of a grave subject and is written in a serious tone but as we move towards the end we see hope; we discover inspiration; we feel encouraged; and we find ourselves filled with a fresh desire to live our life in a better way, a desire to do what we really want and enough push to convert it into action.
VDTD first came in 1999 and was part of trilogy with ‘By the river Peidra I sat and Wept’ and ‘The Devil and Miss Prym’ being other two books in it. These 3 books have nothing in common and no connection from the story or characters perspective, only thing that make them all a part of trilogy is that each of these books tells a tale wherein in a week’s time the life of its chief characters gets a huge turn around, and they find themselves at a decisive turn in their lives which could make or break their lives forever.
VDTD has a life of 190 pages and is written in a very simple and flowing language. There is plot of Veronika and woven within it are the sub-plots of various other characters, as mentioned before. Very meticulously, through each of his characters, PC has covered different kind of ailments associated with mental disorders. VDTD is a book that sticks to its subject (of mental illness) all the times, there is no dragging at all.
FINAL THOUGHT: “Consider each day a miracle, which indeed it is, when you consider the number of unexpected things that could happen in each second of our fragile existence.” VDTD tells us that each day, each minute, infact, each second counts; that’s what Veronika, Zedka, Mary and Edward discover towards the end and that’s what forms, a readers take away when he/she finishes the book.
P.S: One Observation and few interesting quotes, are in the comments section.
P.S.2 : Today - 24th August 2012 - marks the 65th Birth Anniversary of Paulo Coelho. This review is my tribute to one of my favorite Author on his special day.