Scan barcode
A review by theeditorreads
The Last Illusion by Porochista Khakpour
3.0
Synopsis:
At the age of forty-seven, Khanoom gives birth to a baby boy. An unplanned child with a husband who's long dead after a prolonged sickness, the baby's an albino. Khanoom has a fetish for catching birds and putting them in cages, all of whom she considers dear to her, much more than her eight children. Especially her eighth one, the albino, who she refers to as the white demon. She cuts off all human contact and keeps the child like a bird in a cage.
On intervention from Khanoom's seventh child, a woman named Zari, Zal is released into the world. He has now been adopted by a Tony Hendricks and is also being counselled by a psychologist, Dr Rhodes, both men specialising and involved in the study of feral children. This is the story of Zal Hendricks.
Review:
Based on an ancient Persian legend, The Last Illusion tells the story of Zal. The original story is one of the most celebrated ones of the Shahnameh, or the Book of Kings, the national epic of Iran. Much like what the Ramayana or the Mahabharata means to us Indians.
The book has dour humour, it's sickly hilarity cracks you up. As much as the story is inspired by an epic, the book seems to come out from the pages of a fantasy world. Though this fantasy is steeped in the reality of 2000-2001 New York. This is a very unconventional read. As different from every other story out there as it can be.
Divided into nine parts, with each part depicting Zal's life, his progress/regress in his journey of becoming a man from a bird; the author has woven a fantastic tale with quirky characters. Although I loved all of them, I liked Asiya McDonald more - the clairvoyant girlfriend. There is something quite magical in all the eccentricity. I liked her quirks, her visions, her delusions, everything. And her transformation too, a healthy transformation.
It indeed is! First, there's Zal, and though I know it's a story, it was still hard to digest about a mother being so cruel. And I was surprised to find that there are real instances of such cruelty too. Then there's what Willa, Asiya's younger sister, had to face at a young age.
Among all the relationships given in the book, I was struggling with Asiya and Zal's. That bird boy found love, or what he thought love is like, was in itself a wonder. But both their self-destructive tendencies made me tear my hair at times.
This was a whacky story. Everything came to a head in the last part. Something's about to happen, which we already know about, but so many things have already happened. The story is about so much more. So many hurts. So many lunacies, so many lucidities. While the outside world is going on, progressing, it seems the book, the story, came a full circle.
Released in the same year, I couldn't help but think of the movie - Birdman, which first released on 27 August, followed by a worldwide release on November 14.
Extra Reading:
About Zal
P.S. Picking up this book was no conscious decision. This is one book in a long time which I happened to chance across in the library shelves. The blurb ensnared me. This book is also my entry for #ReadingWomenChallenge Prompt 21: Book bought/borrowed in 2019. I borrowed this book from the local branch of Delhi Public Library.
Originally posted on:
https://sassyshaina.wordpress.com/2019/08/14/the-last-illusion-by-porochista-khakpour/
At the age of forty-seven, Khanoom gives birth to a baby boy. An unplanned child with a husband who's long dead after a prolonged sickness, the baby's an albino. Khanoom has a fetish for catching birds and putting them in cages, all of whom she considers dear to her, much more than her eight children. Especially her eighth one, the albino, who she refers to as the white demon. She cuts off all human contact and keeps the child like a bird in a cage.
On intervention from Khanoom's seventh child, a woman named Zari, Zal is released into the world. He has now been adopted by a Tony Hendricks and is also being counselled by a psychologist, Dr Rhodes, both men specialising and involved in the study of feral children. This is the story of Zal Hendricks.
Review:
Exactly once upon a time in a small village in northern Iran, a child of the wrong color was born.
Based on an ancient Persian legend, The Last Illusion tells the story of Zal. The original story is one of the most celebrated ones of the Shahnameh, or the Book of Kings, the national epic of Iran. Much like what the Ramayana or the Mahabharata means to us Indians.
The book has dour humour, it's sickly hilarity cracks you up. As much as the story is inspired by an epic, the book seems to come out from the pages of a fantasy world. Though this fantasy is steeped in the reality of 2000-2001 New York. This is a very unconventional read. As different from every other story out there as it can be.
Divided into nine parts, with each part depicting Zal's life, his progress/regress in his journey of becoming a man from a bird; the author has woven a fantastic tale with quirky characters. Although I loved all of them, I liked Asiya McDonald more - the clairvoyant girlfriend. There is something quite magical in all the eccentricity. I liked her quirks, her visions, her delusions, everything. And her transformation too, a healthy transformation.
The world was such a very bad place.
It indeed is! First, there's Zal, and though I know it's a story, it was still hard to digest about a mother being so cruel. And I was surprised to find that there are real instances of such cruelty too. Then there's what Willa, Asiya's younger sister, had to face at a young age.
His skin was pale and prone to irritations but nothing so different from the usual blemishy human.
Among all the relationships given in the book, I was struggling with Asiya and Zal's. That bird boy found love, or what he thought love is like, was in itself a wonder. But both their self-destructive tendencies made me tear my hair at times.
This was a whacky story. Everything came to a head in the last part. Something's about to happen, which we already know about, but so many things have already happened. The story is about so much more. So many hurts. So many lunacies, so many lucidities. While the outside world is going on, progressing, it seems the book, the story, came a full circle.
Released in the same year, I couldn't help but think of the movie - Birdman, which first released on 27 August, followed by a worldwide release on November 14.
Extra Reading:
About Zal
P.S. Picking up this book was no conscious decision. This is one book in a long time which I happened to chance across in the library shelves. The blurb ensnared me. This book is also my entry for #ReadingWomenChallenge Prompt 21: Book bought/borrowed in 2019. I borrowed this book from the local branch of Delhi Public Library.
Originally posted on:
https://sassyshaina.wordpress.com/2019/08/14/the-last-illusion-by-porochista-khakpour/