“What does it mean to be crazy?”
Those were the words that caught my attention. As I flipped through the book, I saw that one line and immediately, I knew that I could not simply ignore this novel. But…do any of us truly know what it means to be crazy? Or is it merely a label given to those who act different from majority of society? Does being “crazy” necessarily suggest that an individual should be isolated?
Like most of the time, I thought I had the answer to all those questions, only for my mind to be blown away by this book.
Life in Slovenia was not cruel to Veronika. In fact, she had been rather blessed: the girl was young, beautiful, loved, and she lived a comfortable life. That was the reason why people could not bring themselves to comprehend why a young lady such as she would make such a drastic decision—to commit suicide.
One day, as she sat upon her bed in her cozy apartment, Veronika picked up four packs of sleeping pills from the table next to her bed. And one by one, she swallowed them until there was none left.
After consuming the pills, Veronika tried to wait patiently for her death, remembering the way she carefully planned and contemplated her demise. But after a while, she became bored, then began reading a magazine. Soon enough, the pills began to take effect and Veronika then lost consciousness.
Veronika thought she would never wake, but she did. She came to and found herself atop a hospital bed with needles attached to her skin and a tracheal tube down her throat. It was then when she realized that she was now prisoner to the infamous mental institution, Villete. The doctors and nurses told Veronika that the overdose had caused irreparable damage to her heart; therefore, she would only have a few days left to live. Frankly, Veronika did not mind this. Dying was her goal after all. So she thought that it would be best to just wait it out.
As the days went by, Veronika met more and more interesting people and discovered that not all the patients in Villete were “insane.” Why, she herself did not even really know what being insane meant! She made more and more friends, and she found more reasons to continue living as well. Soon, she realized that her days were truly numbered and that she may have to say farewell to her new loved-ones, the people who came to genuinely understand her, the people she had come to know greatly. It was all too soon!
Would her resolve to live be enough?
“Veronika Decides To Die” challenges us to celebrate life, to accept our peculiarities, and shows us the immense beauty and power of the human mind.
-Jessy Tan
II-D
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