Book: The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe by Romain Puertolas

A charity shop that I decided to take on the Rotterdam trip as it was lighter than the library book that I had initially planned. It would be a light read and whereas ordinarily I only read at airports or sometimes on the plane, I also read in coffee shops when Rotterdam got too warm to walk in.

A fakir (no I didn’t know what that was and I’m still unclear) arrives in Sweden to ‘shop’ in IKEA and plans to return with his return ticket to India. Instead, he finds love, meets refugees, gets on the wrong side of a Romany taxi driver and my favourite bit, tries to convince UK customs folk that he doesn’t want to be in England (join the club) and has a home and family in India.

Once i got past what would be casual racism outside of a comedy novel, I did enjoy the name pronunciations. This didn’t help me remember the names of the huge cast of characters although this does not matter. I liked bouncing around Europe and following them all.

However, I did not understand why a Hindu was wearing a turban. [SPOILER] I was waiting for the witty explanation at the end but it never came.