When Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist) was a young man, his parents
had him committed to mental hospitals three times because he wanted to
be an artist--an unacceptable profession in Brazil at the time. During
his numerous forced incarcerations he vowed to write some day about his
experiences and the injustices of involuntary commitment. In this
fable-like novel, Coelho makes good on his promise, with the creation
of a fictional character named Veronika who decides to kill herself
when faced with all that is wrong with the world and how powerless she
feels to change anything. Although she survives her initial suicide
attempt, she is committed to a mental hospital where she begins to
wrestle with the meaning of mental illness and whether forced drugging
should be inflicted on patients who don't fit into the narrow
definition of "normal." The strength and tragedy of Veronika's
fictional story was instrumental in passing new government regulations
in Brazil that have made it more difficult to have a person
involuntarily committed. Like any great storyteller, Coelho has used
the realm of fiction to magically infiltrate and alter the realm of
reality. --Gail Hudson
