Book Review: "The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters" by Balli Kaur Jaswal
“The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters” by Balli Kaur Jaswal
Publisher Synopsis:
British-born Punjabi sisters Rajni, Jezmeen and Shirina have never been close so when their dying mother instructs them to go on a pilgrimage across India to carry out her final rites, the sisters are forced together as they haven’t been for years.
Rajni is an archetypal eldest child bossy, knows best, always right but her perfect son dropped a devastating bombshell before she left and now she’s floundering.
Middle sister Jezmeen was always a loudmouth, translating her need for attention into life as a struggling actress. But her career is on the skids after an incident went viral and now she’s desperate to find her voice again.
Shirina has always been the perfect sister, who confounded expectations by having the most traditional arranged marriage of them all and moving to the other side of the world. But her perfect marriage isn’t what it seems and time is running out to make the right choice.
Each sister has her own reasons for agreeing to this ludicrous trip, and as the miles rack up, the secrets of the past and present are sure to spill out. - Harper Collins
Rating (out of 5): 3.75
Review:
At it’s core, this book is a wonderful examination of family — the things we do for our parents, our children, and our siblings, but more interestingly, it gets into the messier aspects of family. The book opens with Sita writing a letter to her three daughters — Rajni, a proper school principal with her own family troubles; Jazmeen, an aspiring actress with a social media problem; and Shirina, a newlywed who emigrated to Australia to live with her husband and his overbearing mother. Sita is dying, you see, and she wants her three daughters to take a weeklong pilgrimage to scatter her ashes in her home country of India. However, Sita, being your normal overbearing but well-meaning mother, gives them other tasks: they must go to this temple and those baths, they must volunteer and they must follow her exact wishes.
None of the girls are excited to go, but they all have resigned themselves to this trip, so we get to see the Shergill sisters follow their mother’s deathbed request. The book migrates between the three sisters, and I personally loved getting into each of their heads. Each of them is so certain that they have the hardest set of circumstances, and for much of the book, as they talk but don’t communicate, they are sure the other two sisters are living an ideal existence. I know we’ve all heard that “comparison is the thief of joy,” and this is the most apt description of the Shergill sister’s relationship for most of the book. Jazmeen and Shirina think that Rajni is overbearing and judgmental; Rajni thinks that Jazmeen is flighty and needs to get a real job; and Jazmeen and Rajni both think that Shirina abandoned them for a new cushy life with her rich husband that she met in a chatroom.
Of course, this all comes to a head in the last 75 pages of the book, in a way that is heartwarming and surprisingly funny. Again, spoiler free review, but I feel okay with saying that the girls put aside their personal issues and petty jealousies, and they basically save each other from themselves. At that point, it all wraps up with a neat little bow; the sisters all go back to living life with a new perspective and a much closer relationship. In that, Sita’s hope was fulfilled — her girls had found each other again. I know not everything in life ends so cleanly, but sometimes, a book is just meant to be a nice escape, and that’s what this one was. A nice escape in an exotic location with mostly likable characters — I found myself laughing out loud at some of the hijinks, but I also found myself annoyed at how hardheaded or shortsighted the girls were.
I have never been to India, but after reading this book, I have a much clearer picture of what a visit would be like. Jaswal is adept at painting a vivid picture of this country — the good and the bad. This book taught me a great deal about modern culture, particularly in the Indian diaspora, and the unfair misogyny still so inherent in Indian culture. To go online and meet someone in a matchmaker’s chatroom feels both foreign and not — how many of my friends have met their partners through a dating app? However, there isn’t the added pressure from a culture that marriage is the ultimate end goal in bringing honor to your family; at least, I don’t think that’s the case? Beyond that, I honestly had no idea that forced abortion was still something that was an “open secret” within some communities, and in 2019, that makes me angry and sick to my stomach. I’d like to join Jazmeen in her women's march; there’s something so cathartic about screaming about equality into the existential void.
Trigger Warnings: talk of forced abortion, violence against women, and assisted suicide; overbearing mothers-in-law
TL;DR: Escapist fiction in an exotic location with a feminist bend. This book is a playful but profound look at family, and the weird and hard things that we do for them all the time. It will make you think more in-depth about the hidden struggles of those closest to you, and the progression of the sisters’ relationship is a good reminder to be kind and thoughtful to your siblings. Also, be careful if reading when hungry - it will definitely make you want naan and paneer.
