There is no denying that Twinkle Khanna is smart and witty. Her fortnightly column in The Times of India is fun and the sentiments hit home. It almost feels like she is in your head and is voicing out the very things you could never put into words and doing so quite eloquently to boot. Her first book, Mrs Funnybones, which came out in 2015 and was modeled on her wildly popular aforementioned column of the same name, made her India’s highest-selling female writer of 2015. Her confession—that she is a way better writer than she was an actor—seems to be quite true indeed. Khanna’s third published work and her first fiction book, Pyjamas are Forgiving, is a drama that revolves around love, loss and longing, with marriage and infidelity thrown in the mix. It’s entertaining while it lasts, though it does have a few boring bits and pieces where Khanna goes off on some preachy rant of sorts. It’s definitely not Khanna at her best but it’s the same unpretentious writing that is her trademark that makes you want to keep reading.
The story is set in Kerala’s Shanthamaaya Sthalam, a spa where people are supposed to live a simple life (clad in white cotton kurta and trousers) and consume copious amount of ghee to purge their systems of all the toxins they have accumulated in their day-to-day lives. The protagonist is a middle-aged woman named Anshu who comes to the spa whenever she’s feeling a bit unsettled. This time around, Anshu runs into her ex-husband, Jay, and his dim-witted young wife, Shalini, and it is this premise that makes most of the story. The backdrop—Dr Menon curing people of their doshas or imbalanced energies at the spa—makes for an interesting read as you watch Anshu’s life unfurl before you.
There are also other amusing characters that add an element of spunk to what could have otherwise been a monotonous narrative. The setting and mood are just right. You can almost smell the incense and hear the rustle of the leaves. It’s the metaphors, the forced clichés, and all the advice you have heard before and don’t want to hear anymore that weigh you down. Also, with her sharp comebacks, Anshu comes off as Mrs Funnybones and that’s not necessarily a good thing.
Khanna, in one of her interviews, admitted that she doesn’t want to be a dreary writer but, in her quest to be witty and entertaining, she runs the risk of being repetitive and crafting characters that will never feel wholly new. What Khanna lacks in insight and literary expertise, she makes up with her cynical tone and humor but that can only stretch a narrative so much. Pyjamas are Forgiving would have been a rather tedious read had it been any longer.
Book: Pyjamas are forgiving
Genre: Fiction
Author: Twinkle Khanna
Publisher: Juggernaut
Published: September 7, 2018
Language: English
Pages: 256, paperback
