THE FAKIR’S NEW ADVENTURES IN THE LAND OF IKEA

Romain Puértolas

(Éditions Le Dilettante, 298 pages, 2018)

"“[A] comic strip of a novel. . . . Strewn with laugh-out-loud jokes.” —The New York Times Book Review

“A philosophical odyssey. By turns slapstick and serious.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Entertaining and original.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

“A delightfully silly confection.” —The Seattle Times

“Combines farce worthy of Laurel and Hardy with socio-political satire.” —The Washington Times

“Who would have thought that a comedy that mixes flat-pack furniture with magic could tackle some of the biggest subjects of our time? With a big heart, a brilliant sense of humour and an excellent translator, that’s what French writer Romain Puértolas achieves.” —The Independent

Two years after his adventures in The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe, Ajatashatru Oghash Rathod is no longer that tall, thin man, gnarled like a tree, with a huge mustache running across his face. He is clean shaven, has put on a little weight, and wears polo shirts with little crocodiles on the chest. He lives with Marie in a comfortable apartment in the affluent 16th arrondissement, and is sinking slowly into a cushy, insipid routine. And then one day adventure again knocks at his door.

Romain Puértolas takes the reader on a ride in the fast lane from France to Sweden. The story alternates from the fakir’s turbulent childhood at the school for fakirs in the heart of Rajasthan and his present life, thirty years later, as he searches in Viking territory for Hertzyorbac, the mythical bed of nails. But Ajatashatru is not just looking for that bed of nails; he is also searching for a subject for his next book. The deeply entertaining farce is filled with comedy and confusion; it’s a silly and serious philosophical consideration of flat-pack furniture and other modern-day sociopolitical concerns.

Romain Puértolas is the best-selling author of The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe, which was sold in thirty-eight languages and will soon be released as a film. It was published in the United States by Knopf/Vintage in 2015/2016.