The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe

Ajatashatru Oghash (pronounced A-jar-of-rat-stew-oh-gosh!) leaves his hometown in search of a bed of nails, specifically one from IKEA. Rallying the people in his village together to help pay for his trip to Paris, where the nearest IKEA can be found, his plan is to go straight to the store, stay there overnight in the bedroom section, before returning home. Not surprisingly, his simple plan is ruined: his trip to IKEA becomes only the beginning of a long adventure that sees him move throughout Europe.

The book is written in a similar style to that of Jonas Jonasson’s novel The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, and Romain Puertolas’ prose is playful and vivid. Making use of humor in all its forms, from the bizarre circumstances Aja finds himself in to unconventional descriptions such as ‘the Indian’s heart began pounding in his chest like a techno song’, the story is good fun to read.

As silly as it seems on the surface, there are darker underlying themes here. The fakir, who had prior to this trip essentially been a con artist, spends a lot of time assessing the motivations of the people he meets, deeming them to be good or bad. At one point his Indian heritage causes authorities to believe that he is an ‘illegal alien’ attempting to cross a border into Europe. While he’s under arrest he meets a variety of immigrants trying to make their way into the ‘good countries’. As Aja country-hops through the rest of his journey with ease, Puertolas’ experience working in border security is shown in the empathetic way he writes of human trafficking, with some of these stories being truly shocking. Puertolas manages to sew together the seriousness of this subject matter to his lighthearted story without undermining its significance.

A story about self-discovery and having faith in humanity, this is a great read of comic relief, with enough depth to keep it interesting.

Ella Mittas is a freelance reviewer .