Psychiatrists, Psychologists and Other Patients
On the cover of Rodrigo Muñoz Avia’s novel “Psychiatrists, Psychologists and Other Patients” stands this comment:
“This novel will make you both laugh and think.”
And that’s definitely true. 😀
“Hello. My name is Rodrigo. Rodrigo Montalvo Letellier. Before going to the psychiatrist I was a happy person. Now I’m dyslexic, obsessed, depressed and have trash of death, I mean fear. At the psychiatrist I learned that happiness is just a meaningless convention. I learned that the possibility of being happy again one day not only doesn’t exist but absolutely doesn’t exist. Now I think about some things much more than I’d like: about death and life.“
When such a first paragraph awaits you, you see that serious madness (pun intended) is announced with the novel “Psychiatrists, Psychologists and Other Patients.” The main hero, Rodrigo, tells us about his life in first person. About how he has a caring wife Patricia, two sweet little children (Belen and Marcos) and a cat Arnold who drives him manic, how he works in a successful family business he runs with his father (they deal with elevators), has his hobby with toy cars… all in all, has a pleasant life. He lives in one huge house divided into three parts, so each part is isolated as a separate home. So his “neighbors” are his quite silly father obsessed with elevators with a strange sense of humor and his good-natured mother. And other “neighbors” are Rodrigo’s perfect sister Nuria and her husband Ernesto who’s a psychiatrist obsessed with lawn mow… um, mower and every other day trims the lawn… and is a heavy bore who gets on Rodrigo’s ner… um, that thing (and his father’s too).
In translation, Rodrigo leads a relatively normal life… until the moment when at one family gathering, Ernesto’s proximity so irritates Rodrigo that he loses control and starts “losing it” with comments and twisting individual words. On top of that, Ernesto gives a preliminary diagnosis that Rodrigo has a fear of buttons, which probably causes him paraphasia and that, though it’s probably nothing serious, it shouldn’t be ruled out that maybe Rodrigo is more seriously ill. Therefore, Ernesto suggests Rodrigo officially visit him as a psychiatrist, to determine what’s wrong with him. Our good Rodrigo at that moment makes his biggest mistake.
He agrees (though quite unwillingly) to go to his brother-in-law for consultations.
And from that moment, Rodrigo’s life went into the sherpon… I mean, parsley…
From then on, we follow Rodrigo as he goes from one psychiatrist to another, psychologist, aromatherapist, sorcerer, sham… um shaman and who knows what else to feel better… only to realize along the way that, if the diagnoses are to be believed (and Rodrigo believes them), paraphasia is his smallest problem, because Rodrigo is also depressed (though he wasn’t before) and manic (though he wasn’t before) and obsessed with thoughts of death (though he never thought about death before) and the meaning of life (though he never really burdened himself with this topic before) and that he has to take nerve medication (though he never needed them before consultations).
And now Rodrigo besides his paraphasia and other diagnoses, must deal with various (tragi)comic situations in his life.
You’ll really laugh and ponder the themes in the book “Psychiatrists, Psychologists and Other Patients.” 🙂
Rodrigo tells us his adventures in first person. Besides his visits to medical professionals (dialogues and Rodrigo’s descriptions of these people and their offices are hilarious), Rodrigo will introduce us more closely to his likeable family, parents, sister, idiot Ernesto who ruined his life, crazy neighbor Lope de Vega and his dog (the search for Sex is a special story… and yes, it’s not a search for sex, but a search for Sex with capital S), elevator business, relationship with the annoying family cat Arnold.
But most importantly, we’ll get to know Rodrigo’s soul and his way of thinking and outlook on life and family… except all this will drastically complicate because of all the visits to psychiatrists, psychologists and other ill… um, professionals.
But what’s really nice, “Psychiatrists, Psychologists and Other Patients” is also a nice family capri… story, damn it! Dammit…
This is quite a comic, but simultaneously intelligent novel. You’ll laugh at Rodrigo’s paraphasias (and maybe feel a bit uncomfortable about it, but it’s a comedy with a fictional character, for God’s sake) for the simple reason they appear so suddenly, both in Rodrigo’s monologues and dialogues, that you’ll simultaneously be confused and amused. However, Rodrigo’s family comments and his thoughts are equally hilarious.
And there’s the author’s subtle(!?) caricaturing of academic analyses that psychiatrists and psychologists can give.
This novel will also make you ponder one topic, which is how much a person really knows the human mind. Of course, there are people who are mentally ill and need professional help. Likewise, there are people who maybe have some life dilemmas and need advice, direction, ideas or someone to listen to them (maybe a coach or psychotherapist). There are people who just imagine they have a problem (and in conversation it’s determined they’re bothered by boredom or lack of concrete goal)… and there are people who absolutely have nothing wrong and should be left alone and not driven crazy without urgent need just because some situation was wrongly assessed.
Though you can’t help but wonder what would have happened if at the very beginning of the novel Rodrigo had told Ernesto what he really thinks of him… maybe he’d have screwed up family relations, but at least he wouldn’t be paraphasic, hm?
One of the brilliant details is also the relationship between Rodrigo and cat Arnold:
“Arnold drives me manic. When he was a kitten several weeks old, he peed on an engraving my wife gave me and I threw him in water (the cat, not the engraving) from which he jumped without touching the water, as if there was a short circuit between the water and his paws. Since then, Arnold barks at me whenever I come home, because he considers me an undesirable intruder on his territory, and every night, before I return home, he takes great care to pee where I did it, so that, as much as possible, not even the smallest trace of my existence remains.”
I think it’s clear to you how hilarious this novel is when the relationship with a house cat is described like this.
“Psychiatrists, Psychologists and Other Patients” spans about 170 pages of the book, which reads quite easily and quickly draws you into Rodrigo’s head.
This novel was first published in 2005 in Spain, and the author is especially attached to this novel, because it’s his first novel for adults. An interesting fact is there’s also a film that came out in 2009.
The novel sends us a message that, with all the complicated obstacles we must overcome in life, we should move forward with faith in ourselves and laughter as the best therapy… which is a great truth, because in today’s times, we’ve quite lost touch with both faith in ourselves and humor.
All in all, if you want to laugh a bit and cheer up and read a novel that’s simultaneously both funny and serious, without being tedious, “Psychiatrists, Psychologists and Other Patients” is an excellent choice.
I’ll definitely read the second novel by this writer that’s been translated here. 🙂
And you dear reader, do you also have such a person who knows how to throw you off track that you start talking incoherently and chatter? 🙂
