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A review by cozy_reading_times
Kundo Wakes Up by Saad Z. Hossain
4.0
4.5*
Even though it took me some time getting into it, in the end I loved Kundo Wakes Up even more than The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday.
CW: drug abuse, depression, suicidal thoughts, suicide (off page), corpses, body horror, corpses, cyberstalking, vomiting, mention of necrophilia
There are two things I have to mention first:
1. While it's not required (as this works as a standalone novella), I do recommend you read The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday first. There are several mentions and minor spoilers of that story in here.
2. Compared to The Gurkha, this book is much darker, especially in the beginning. It's narratively somewhat of the opposite to that novella, with this story starting out bleak and hopeless but getting more hopeful throughout the plot.
I stuggled a little bit getting into this, as my favourite part of The Gurkha was Hussain's incredible sens of humour. Furthermore did I not click with Kundo ar first, he seemed spiteful and a little petty. It didn't help that the whole set up of this book is very bleak.
But then, slowly, did I find myself sliding into the story, understanding Kundo a bit better and getting invested. As the story gradually built up a weirdly wonderful found family around Kundo and we got to explore more of Chittagong (a city beaten but not dead yet), I felt myself falling in love.
The themes are the foremost reason that I suggest reading The Gurkha first, as it's the contrast to Kathmandu that showcases so profoundly what Chittagong is lacking and how much nuance there is to this world Hussain has created.
Aside from the at time very disturbing cyber punk elements (and Kundo's musings about his wife's hypothetical sex life with other men), this was an incredible read, moving, fascinating and definitely memorable.
To the return of the kPop-Retrogirl!
Even though it took me some time getting into it, in the end I loved Kundo Wakes Up even more than The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday.
CW: drug abuse, depression, suicidal thoughts, suicide (off page), corpses, body horror, corpses, cyberstalking, vomiting, mention of necrophilia
There are two things I have to mention first:
1. While it's not required (as this works as a standalone novella), I do recommend you read The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday first. There are several mentions and minor spoilers of that story in here.
2. Compared to The Gurkha, this book is much darker, especially in the beginning. It's narratively somewhat of the opposite to that novella, with this story starting out bleak and hopeless but getting more hopeful throughout the plot.
I stuggled a little bit getting into this, as my favourite part of The Gurkha was Hussain's incredible sens of humour. Furthermore did I not click with Kundo ar first, he seemed spiteful and a little petty. It didn't help that the whole set up of this book is very bleak.
But then, slowly, did I find myself sliding into the story, understanding Kundo a bit better and getting invested. As the story gradually built up a weirdly wonderful found family around Kundo and we got to explore more of Chittagong (a city beaten but not dead yet), I felt myself falling in love.
The themes are the foremost reason that I suggest reading The Gurkha first, as it's the contrast to Kathmandu that showcases so profoundly what Chittagong is lacking and how much nuance there is to this world Hussain has created.
Aside from the at time very disturbing cyber punk elements (and Kundo's musings about his wife's hypothetical sex life with other men), this was an incredible read, moving, fascinating and definitely memorable.
To the return of the kPop-Retrogirl!