A book a day: Juan Jacinto Muñoz Rangel: The hypochondriacal murderer

Language: español

Year of publication: 2012

Valuation: Alright

The hypochondriac murderer is a black humor novel – or a humor novel disguised as black… or even vice versa – whose premise is perfectly summarized in the title: it tells the story of and by MY, an Argentine hitman who turns out to be, in addition, extremely hypochondriac, in such a way that his supposed health problems are what prevent him from reaching his target, a certain Eduardo Blanstein, whom he has been following for months and months through the streets of Madrid. but there is always an illness that torments him and prevents him from carrying out his work…

As can be assumed, the comic weight of the novel has to do with this extreme hypochondria of the murderer, who claims to suffer from such peculiar diseases as Foreign Accent Syndrome (be careful, something like this must exist), Proteus Syndrome ( that of the famous “Elephant Man”), that of Professional Spasm, etc. in addition to other various illnesses and allergies. Not only that, but he shares all his supposed illnesses with prominent philosophers and writers in history: Kant, Descartes, Coleridge, Poe, Swift, Byron, Voltaire, Moliére… all of them, apparently, also quite hypochondriacs.

As humorous fiction, the novel maintains a humorous tone, as well as achieving some quite hilarious specific moments; As a narrative in general, stripped of those overtones of comedy and the erudition that the author displays – perhaps it is invented, I don’t know -, let’s say that it suffers as the plot progresses and MY’s efforts to assassinate Blanstein tell us. They are becoming more and more the same. This is the biggest problem with the book: it starts out very sparkling, with a lot of foam and bubbles, but like a bottle of champagne or cava (well, maybe champagne cider, in this case), the gas quickly loses strength and runs out of bubbles… Even so, the novel tells us a story that is original and witty enough for anyone to spend a while. good time; The agile style and short chapters also help make it quick and enjoyable to read. In short, an entertaining and more or less funny novel (depending on tastes) although perhaps a little less than what it initially promises.