(Reviewed by JD Jung)
#CommissionsEarned
“What you do is supposed to be sacred. It’s supposed to be about healing. You should be taking it seriously, as seriously as death.”
Italian writer, Stefano Benni addresses a serious issue that is prevalent worldwide in The Book of Morfeo. He expresses his anger at the pharmaceutical and medical industries employing satire, humor, and magical realism. Here, where obscene profits are more important than patients’ well-being, doctors vie to climb the social ladder. He also addresses the difference in medical care based on one’s economic status. Sound familiar?
In this bizarre tale, eight-year-old Morfeo is rushed to the hospital after suffering a concussion. He is later diagnosed with epilepsy, even without experiencing seizures. Doctors are all too eager to prescribe a multitude of medications. This leads to ongoing anxiety, obsessive behavior and of course, addiction. There seems to be no way out: just hospitalization and more drugs.
Many whom he meets are permanently relegated to hospitals where they are continually medicated to dull their senses. Snarky, rebellious bad angels try to help them, often to no avail.
Benni probes concepts of death, in which he assigns the feminine pronoun. I’m not sure why though. Nothing is off limits including God and religion.
Initially I was confused with all the characters and bad angels, but eventually I got a handle on it. Though I can’t say that I understood all the nuances, at under one hundred pages it’s worth reading multiple times. The Book of Morfeo is an entertaining way to explore the universal problem of greed and healthcare.
