Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho

19 reviews

xlaurareads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

it took me a while to get into this book and grasp what it really is about but in the end i really liked it. it gives a lot food for thought and reflection about various topics (e.g. life, love, death, mental health). there's a lot to understand and reflect on in this short book, but that was greatly done by following a relatively clear red thread. I'm not per se okay with what dr. igor does/did in the book but i can see where he was coming from and where he wanted to go. the ending was a bit too loose for me but i still liked it in a way to leave it to one's own imagination

to veronica when she finds out that she won't die too soon and how everything will turn out with eduard.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: War

anczki's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

george_is_not_my_name's review

dark emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Vomit, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

sophie_kiss's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Drug use, Emotional abuse, War, and Injury/Injury detail

clarisseep's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.5

huge trigger warning for suicide, mental illnesses and medical experiences 
definitely not bad and a quick read 
this is definitely a reflective book in which we can think about the treatment of patients in facilities as well as the definition of “illness” and other words

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, and Suicide attempt

tuhdais06's review

dark hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Mental illness, and Medical content

senny's review

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Bullying

tiinamiau's review against another edition

inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gaslighting

merle98's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

0.75

This was probably the worst book I have read in years. After being completely underwhelmed if outright annoyed at Paulo Coelho slapping the reader in the face with supposedly profound moral and philosophical insights in The Alchemist, I was surprised that he was able to take this even further in Veronica Decides To Die. The book more than obviously meant to inspire the readers to "live instead of just existing", "Carpe Diem" and question if "normal" people may not actually be the mad ones. While I agree, that society's perception of what is "normal" is entirely constructed and severely harmful, I don't think this book did anything to dismantle that notion. On the other hand, it was incredibly offensive and dismissive towards anyone suffering from mental illness, suggesting that everyone in the mental hospital was faking their conditions to escape from the real life they couldn't take. The methods employed by the doctors in the book were more than questionable and unscientific. And then there is the sheer misogyny of this book! From claiming that women choose "romantic" ways to die as advertised by Hollywood princesses, to Veronica deciding to die because of boredom, to Veronica deciding to live because she falls in love with a piano-playing nondescript man in the same ward and has an epiphany whilst furiously masturbating in front of him as he is just trying to play the piano...the book is a complete, sexist train wreck. So, Paulo, what does this mean? Veronica just needs to explore her sexuality (and sexually harass a side-character in the process) and find a cute boyfriend and her life suddenly has meaning again? "Yolo" and the loss of any sexual inhibitions as the answer to suicidal tendencies? A complete and utter misrepresentation of mental illness is what this is. Beyond that, just about every character in this book was undeveloped and unlikeable. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

The sole content of this book is the complete misrepresentation of mental illness and may be extremely triggering.