Soh Kam Yung reviewed #Spring Love, #Pichal Pairi by Usman Malik
A fantasy love story with a twisted ending.
3 stars
A story that starts as a series of interviews between a journalist and a person in Pakistan who is said to be a pichal pairi, a 'monster' with reversed feet. The initial impression is of a story of a man meeting an unusual girl with a defect, not a supernatural monster. They then proceed to be attracted to each other and develop a romantic relationship.
But there are moments of unusual activity and behaviour that betray that she may be more than just a person with deformed feet. And it is only when the whole world is suddenly shut down due to a pandemic (name not stated in the story) that the real fantasy elements of the story come forth, making the reader re-evaluate who she really is and whether she is still around.