Days are numbered

Novel about a clairvoyant doctor is enjoyably lightweight.

- TIM UPPERTON

What if you woke up one morning to discover you had turned into a giant cockroach? What if you were the sole survivor of a shipwreck on a desert island? What if you found out that you weren't just a bullied boy living with your relatives in the suburbs but also a famous wizard? Fiction often begins with a premise that drives the story — but the premise is not the story. We dont read Kafka’s Metamorphosis as a guide to navigating life as a cockroach, or Defoe's Robinson Crusoe for survival tips (though both stories are quite helpful in this regard). And then there's the ever-abiding Harry Potter series.