Book Review: Pyjamas are Forgiving by Twinkle Khanna

                      I had read 'The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad' by Twinkle Khanna some time back. One of the stories from that book was inspired by the life of Arunachalam Muruganantham (Twinkle herself produced a movie based on the same titked 'padman' which had her husband, Akshay Kumar playing the title role).The 'legend of 'Lakshmi Prasad' was an interesting read. 'Pyjamas are forgiving' is Twinkle's latest work. Unlike her previous two works (Mrs Funny Bones and the 'legend...') which were about real life people and real life incidents, 'Pyjamas...' is an entirely fictional tale.
                       Anshu , the protagonist  is a middle aged woman with sleep issues.She has come to Shanthamaya Sthalam, a spa situated somewhere in Kerala. She is on a mission to reduce her weight, besides other things. There she unexpectedly meets her ex-husband, besides other people. What happens in the spa during the course of next one month or so is what the story is all about.
                      The characters are shallow and half baked. The protagonist doesn't come across as an entirely likeable character. Some one-liners are witty but quite often they tend to be borderline vulgar and quite crass(those pertaining to orgasm and sexual act were very quite crude, to say the least).
                    There is no story per se, the plot moves at snails pace and wholly relies on the day to day activities at the spa. It would have been fine if the narrative was replete with genuinely funny moments but that was far and few in between.The book is mostly about the self realization/ self discovery of a few of the residents at the spa over a period of one month or so.But at the same time, some of the key characters never get their due.The relationship between Anshu and her ex-husband is not properly explained or explored. We get to know that they went to a few vacations together, but then what really happened between them/or in their relation is hardly explained.
May be you can give it a try if a slow paced, leisurely read with a few witty lines and hardly any surprises is what you are hoping for. I'm giving it a 2.5 out of 5.

-nikhimenon