Book Review: The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad by Twinkle Khanna

Genre:	Short Story, Fiction
Book Name:	The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad
Author:	Twinkle Khanna
Pages:	229
Publication Year:	2016
Publisher:	Juggernaut Books

So last time I had wished for a story from Mrs Funnybones (while reading a book by the same name – review), and here it is…

The book has an undercurrent of talking about the societal changes without being preachy, the way that Mrs Funnybones wittingly spins her satirical columns regularly. Easy to read with a simple relatable context, but not the typical Indian fiction flooding the market. It has short sentences, perfectly correlated with just the right touch of background and other side-characters, the factors needed for a good short story book.

All the four stories have a feminism message and breaking stereotypes, my personal favourite being Salam, Noni Appa. This book reminded me of books written by Sudha Murthi. Only if the last story could have been skipped (those already aware of Arunachalam Murugananthm would not feel it part of fiction), it would have deserved at least 9-on-10. No denying the fact that, I am biased towards her column writings.

Excerpt from the back cover of the book: A gangly young girl transforms her village with a revolutionary idea. Sixty-eight-year-old Noni Appa finds herself drawn to a married man – ‘Why do people have to define relationships, underline each word till the paper gives way beneath?’ she wonders. Bablu Kewat becomes obsessed with sanitary napkins much to his family’s horror, and a young woman keeps checking the weather forecast as she meticulously plans each of her five weddings. Funny, observant and wise, this is storytelling at its most irresistible.

About the author: Twinkle Khanna, aka Mrs Funnybones, crafts satirical stories and funny fables when she is not running a design business, selling candles or running in circles around her small but rather odd family. She is an acclaimed columnist and lives in Mumbai. Twitter: @mrsfunnybones Facebook: @TwinkleRKhanna

Rating: 7/10

Book Journey: Mrs Funnybones

Genre:	Satire, Comedy
Book Name:	Mrs Funnybones
Author:	Twinkle Khanna
Pages:	235
Publication Year:	2015
Publisher:	Penguin Books

Having already read Twinkle Khanna’s columns (yes, in Times of India, you can have something to read as well), this was definitely one of the books that I was looking forward to as “Books to read in 2015”. A book to complete in 2 hours straight, smiling every single time the pages turned, I haven’t enjoyed a book this much in a great while.

Like short articles bound together and a glimpse of taking a dig at oneself, that’s a talent very few possess (I for that matter, do not belong to that genre of people, so please don’t rate my reviews bad 😛 ). And here the book scores over myriads of other Indian authors who want to twinkle in the literary kingdom. And yes, celebs are people and this book breaks the stereotype of one going all gaga over them.

Only if the stories could have been more inter-linked to make it up into a big novel rather than pieces of newspaper articles (a few sections seemed like I have already read them before), it would have been a 10/10 from my end.

Excerpt from the back cover of the book: Full of wit and delicious observations, Mrs Funnybones captures the life of the modern Indian woman—a woman who organizes dinner each evening, even as she goes to work all day, who runs her own life but has to listen to her mummyji, who worries about her weight and the state of the country. Based on Twinkle Khanna’s superhit column, Mrs Funnybones marks the debut of one of our funniest, most original voices.

About the author: Twinkle Khanna, aka Mrs Funnybones, crafts satirical stories and funny fables when she is not running a design business, selling candles or running in circles around her small but rather odd family. She narrowly escaped a gruesome tragedy when Bollywood tried to bludgeon her brain to the size of a pea, but she ducked at the right moment and escaped miraculously unharmed. She is a popular columnist and is a regular contributor to The Times of India and DNA After Hrs. Currently, she is in the process of creating lame jokes like, ‘Why do all Hindu boys worship their mother? Because their religion tells them to worship the cow.’ She firmly believes that nothing in life is sacred except laughter.

Rating: 9/10