[BOOK] K-PAX by Gene Brewer (2003)

I picked this book up since I saw it on some list of anarchist science fiction. I also saw the cute little filmed version with Kevin Spacey. It's a easy read, a little novel about a psychiatrist who runs a mental institution for long term patients. A man is brought to his institution after he was picked up by the police since he told everyone he was from the planet K-PAX. The story is then told through the sessions the psychiatrist has with that patient, who is quite an agreeable character that has positive influence on all the other inmates who actually suffer from various phobias and anxiety (the K-PAXian is not suffering, he is to different).

The beautiful heart of the story is how the K-PAXian describes life on his planet where there is no government or any other form of hierarchy, no one murders animals or other beings or treats them like food, there is no work, the humans there act on their creative urges and that's how what needs to be done get's done. No stress, no worries, no career, no rent to pay, just life. Everyone from the institution wants to leave civilization and join the K-PAXian. But of course he is hopping mad as anyone who dares to dream of a better world. [Bloomsbury] [Gene Brewer website]
- Sigurður Harðarsson

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