Cages - interview with author Enrico Mattioli

Italian author Enrico Mattioli just released his new book "Cages". In his book, Omar Mumba tells us a story of deep introversion. Born in Rome to an Italian mother and a Kenyan father, he learned from his parents, both doctors, not to conceive work as only a personal livelihood. Omar divides his salary of hotel clerk on small donations to non-profit associations operating in poor countries. The constant activity towards others in need makes him uncompromising towards other people's carelessness, and his looking afar makes Omar lose contact with aspects close to him, isolating him further. His days pass between U2 music and dishes to be cleaned, working in an hotel and slanderous accusation: who blew the tires of his chief? 

What makes 'Cages' the thing that unites human beings?

The cages are mental and concern the limits of each. They condition and not allow us to live fully.

Why should people read this book?

Because it is a book about ordinary people: you get up, go to work, go shopping, you care about your problems or your hobby. Then offers reflections, but no answers. A book only has to tell.

Who is it for?

For all and I hope it is also fun. It is urban life.

How did you craft your character 'Omar Mumba' in your book?

I needed a character on which to pour all those resentments born of prejudice. Omar is looked upon with suspicion, but he is too rigid and with little irony. In short, Mumba is a good person, but it is not perfect.

Why did you write about deep introversion?

Behind introversion are concealed infinite spaces. Mumba is an introvert who through letters received goes beyond the everyday.

What were the contradictions of the society that you have observed?

Today's technology allows us unthinkable things from the past. Yet ours is an unbalanced society towards Third World countries or South America: what is progress, if a large proportion of the population lives in poverty or rights violated?

When and where did you set this story?

I'll tell you one thing: over the years, I have kept the mail in a large yellow envelope. They were letters that came from non-profit organizations working in those lands where there is need of everything. That big yellow envelope became heavy as the problems on earth, but Enrico Mattioli and his book, will not solve those issues. We need that public opinion put pressure to the governed. After all, if I was born in a developed country, what have I done to deserve it? I'm just lucky.

How does "every person pursue of a prophylactic distrust" affects you?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind! Seriously, in each of us there is the right and wrong. Our moods change like the seasons. Sometimes the person with prophylactic distrust, I was really me.