MY COMMENTS :
Written by the author Paulo Coelho, the work tells the story of a young girl named Veronika who goes through a suicide attempt.
The main character, who has no expectations from life and feels helpless against the unjust order, attempts to commit suicide with pills at the beginning of the book, but when he opens his eyes, he finds himself in the hospital. Following his behavior in the hospital, it is decided that he will be kept in the mental hospital called Villete for a while.
During his time in the hospital, he meets an activist woman named Zedka and learns important lessons about life from her. He also spends a long time in the hospital with a famous lawyer named Mari and with the life lessons he learns from her, he begins to understand the value of his life better.
Then, she meets an ambassador's son named Eduard and discovers her interest in music. She tries to spend more time with him because she likes Eduard. During this process, she is told that she has a heart problem after her suicide attempt and that she has 10 days left to live. However, this claim is applied to her as a treatment method in order to hold on to life with a medicine given to her by Dr. Igor. During this time, she realizes the value of her life after thinking about death for a long time.
On the day before her death, Veronika, who received the electric treatment given to her after Eduard's crisis, asks Dr. Igor to release her and that she wants to spend her last day outside. However, when the doctor rejects this request, they escape from the hospital together after Eduard's treatment. Seeing that he did not die that day after they escaped from the hospital, Veronika will see each day she lives as a miracle according to Dr. Igor's plan and will begin to appreciate her life better.
The messages given in the work show that psychological cases, which are increasing especially in modern society, increase due to the increase in prosperity and luxury. However, it also clearly shows that the successful people people see in their environment, no matter how good their living conditions are, cause them to see themselves as inadequate and ineffective after a while. The people who have the most important problems seem to be in this category. In this respect, it should be stated that it is a work that can also be pregnant with a social research topic.
As in the author's famous work, The Alchemist, the blending of the plot with philosophical messages has created a novel that can be read in one sitting for the reader.
In conclusion, the work is one of the books that should definitely be examined, as it manages to appeal to both readers who love fiction novels and readers who love psychological novels with its messages and subject matter.
MY QUOTATIONS(*) :
Veronika knew many people who talked about the terrible things that happened to others as if they were truly sorry and wanted to help, but the truth was that they took pleasure in the suffering of others because it allowed them to believe that they were happy and lucky.
Insulin is used to treat high blood glucose in diabetics. On the other hand, if the dose is kept much higher than normal, the drop in blood glucose will create a coma.
Zedka “ People never learn anything from what they are told, they only learn by their own efforts .”
When a society faced a serious problem such as war, hyperinflation, epidemics, etc., there was a slight increase in the number of suicides, but a significant decrease in cases of depression, paranoia, and psychosis. When the problem was solved, the cases returned to normal. According to Dr. Igor, this meant that people only had the luxury of going crazy when the conditions were right.
Dr. Igor: “ The higher people’s chances of happiness, the more unhappiness they experience .”
Reality is whatever the majority says it is. Not necessarily the best or the most logical, but the one that most closely meets the desires of society as a whole.
Mari: " Even if I decide to leave this place for good, I will not return to the legal profession. I will not waste my time with crazy people who consider themselves normal and important, but whose only function in life is to make things difficult for everyone ."
The one who is right is the strongest. In this case, there is a paradox, the most cowardly are also the bravest, because they can impose their ideas on everyone.
Normality is nothing more than consensus. That is, the majority thinks something is right, so it is right - normal.
The first typewriter was invented in 1873 by Christopher Sholes to compensate for the difficulty and slowness of handwriting. But a problem arose immediately; when the machine was typed too fast, the bars would get tangled and the machine would not work. Sholes then invented the QWERTY keyboard. A keyboard that allowed typewriters to type slower! Typewriter and PC keyboards are set up so that users can type slower, not faster.
Dr. Igor: " You are a different person, but you want to be like everyone else. In my opinion, this is a serious illness. But you consider being different to be crazy, and that's why you chose to stay in Villete, because here everyone is different and so you consider yourself as normal as everyone else ."
Diplomacy is the art of keeping the other person waiting. First loves may never be forgotten, but they definitely end.
However, diplomacy was not only the art of waiting, but also the art of maintaining the appearance of normality, no matter what the circumstances.
He would then take notes and write down the details of Vitriol's only known cure: the consciousness of living. He would then explain the drug he used in his first important trial on patients: the consciousness of death.
Dr. Igor also knew that those who failed to kill themselves sooner or later repeated their attempts and eventually committed suicide.
So Dr. Igor had done what he had done. He had artificially induced the symptoms of a heart attack using a drug called Phenotal. This drug had been given to the girl continuously for a week; she too had obviously been very frightened, because she had had time to think about death, to examine her life. Thus, according to Dr. Igor's thesis (the last chapter of his book would be titled "A Consciousness of Death Makes Us Live More Intensively"), the girl had eliminated all the Vitriol from her system and would most likely never attempt suicide again.
The girl would see every new day she lived as a miracle, which is a miracle when you consider the unexpected events that can happen to us at every moment of our fragile lives.
MY EVALUATIONS:
Subject : The work tells the story of the events that a young girl named Veronika goes through after her suicide attempt.
Style: The author's narrative, which is enriched with both event-based and psychological elements, has managed to convey the messages intended to be given in a simple way. However, the messages intended to be given are clearly conveyed to the reader without using elaborate words. Therefore, it should be noted that it is an important book that can appeal to readers who like both psychological and fictional novels in terms of style.
Originality : It should be stated that the work has an original structure, considering the subject it deals with, the environment in which it takes place and the storylines in which it conveys the messages it gives.
Character : It is seen that the character scheme in the work is as dense as it should be and that the narrative is enriched with 3 supporting characters in addition to the main character. In addition, the author has also treated the family members of other supporting characters as supporting characters when appropriate and has succeeded in enriching the narrative in a positive way as well as strengthening the connections in the plot.
Fluency : When the style and other elements are taken into consideration, it is obvious that the work is an engaging work in terms of its subject. However, it should definitely be stated that it has a fluent narrative thanks to its style. It can be said that the only element that negatively affects the fluency element is the repetition of some philosophical messages. However, this situation did not affect the narrative much and this deficiency was quickly remedied with the plot.
General : In the evaluation made out of 10 according to the criteria stated above:
Subject: 8.5
Style: 8.5
Originality: 7.5
Character: 8.5
Fluency: 8
The overall average of the work that received these scores is 8.2 points . It should be stated that it is one of the rare works that passed the 8 threshold and managed to receive high scores in all categories, and it is definitely one of the books that should be examined.
(*) : All parts in the title Quotations:
VERONICA WANTS TO DIE
Author : Paulo Coelho
Publisher : Can Publications
Edition : 73rd Edition - February 2023
The photo used on the cover was used as a quote from the book.
Comments