The silliest book I’ve read in a year… And I loved it!

The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir who got trapped in an IKEA Wardrobe

By Romain Puértolas

Available via Booktopia for $26.40

Published by Random House Australia 1 July 2014 (Originally published as L’extraordinaire voyage du fakir qui étais resté coincé dans une armoire ikea” in 2013.)

This is the silliest book I’ve read in many a year and I loved it!

The hero if this unlikely story is Ajatashatru Oghash Rathod and he offers this bit of philosophy at the beginning of his story “A heart is a little like a large wardrobe”.

If you are having some difficulty in pronouncing this illustrious name, do not worry you will find many attempts in the course of the novel such as A­-jar-of-rat-stew­-oh-gosh.

Our hero is a Fakir, who has conned his small village in India into believing his “super” powers will be enhanced by the addition of a new bed of nails. As you might expect, the only supplier of beds of nails is IKEA and they have three different styles on offer.  Although they raised the money for the fare, the village could not stretch to any spending money, so armed with a 100 Euro note, printed on one side only, Ajatashatru lands in Paris the nearest city to his village boasting an IKEA store.

Leaving the airport, he hails a gypsy cab and you will be surprised to find the driver takes him to the IKEA guaranteed to earn the largest fare. Using his fake euro note he pays the fare, but redirects the driver’s attention so he can remove this wondrous note from the cabbies wallet. That night the cab driver is 100 euro short in his take and vows to take revenge on our Indian hero.

So begins a totally ridiculous journey around Europe fully orchestrated by the Keystone cops with assistance from the Marx Brothers. As we travel with Ajatashatru from France to England to Spain to Italy, Libya and returning to France, do not expect a travelogue – this hero manages to travel enough air miles to earn a free frequent flyer flight, but never sees a thing!

Along the way he changes; in a series of lightening flash moments, he falls in love, writes a novel, assists an illegal immigrant, spends time with a famous actress and manages to escape the cab drivers murderous intent.  I wonder how actress Sophie Marceau, feels about naming one of the characters Sophie Morceaux? As the novel’s Sophie is a very sympathetic character and treats our hero kindly, Sophie Marceau may be flattered – was this a deliberate on the part of the author?

Recently we took a trip to our local IKEA and consequently the following extract from the novel immediately came to mind.

“For someone from a Western democracy, Mr Ikea had developed a commercial concept that was, to say the least, somewhat unusual: the dictatorial shopping experience.  Any customer wishing to reach the self-service warehouse located on the ground floor is obliged to first go upstairs, to walk along a gigantic and never-ending corridor that weaves between showcase bedrooms, living rooms and kitchens, ….  to pass a mouthwatering restaurant, …. then to go back downstairs so that they can finally make their purchases in the warehouse.  …. someone who has come to buy three screws and two bolts might return home four hours later with a fitted kitchen  …. .  The Swedes …  draw a yellow line on the floor, indicating the correct way, just in case one of the customers thinks of straying from the beaten path”.

There is a serious side to this novel and a healthy dose of social commentary on the perils of emigration and the risks people take to find a better life in what the author calls “the good countries”.

As I stated above, this is a very silly novel and it is a good light read which certainly entertained me.  Random House provided my ARC of this novel via NetGalley in return for my honest assessment.

I can already see the movie!

Available via Booktopia for $26.40

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About the Author

Romain Puértolas was born in Montpellier and has lived in France, Spain and the U.K., where he has been a DJ, singer-songwriter, language teacher, translator-interpreter and steward. He has been working as a police inspector with the French border service, specialising in document fraud. The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir... was a #1 bestseller in France and has been sold to 35 countries.