The Art of Being Fabulous: 10 Rules for a Beautiful Mind & Life by Shalini Passi
My take on the book:
The Art of Being Fabulous is a memoir by Shalini Passi written by her in an engaging and chatty tone. Divided into ten chapters, each chapter touches on the notable events/aspects of Shalini’s life, and her takeaway from these life experiences. The book starts from her childhood days, school life, what inspired the artist in her, her marriage, and becoming a mother at an early age.
Later chapters revolve around Shalini’s fashion choices and her quick decisions at the Cannes film festival. Likewise, her decision to appear on the Netflix show while being her authentic self. Tracing her journey from being an artist to an art collector and running her foundation to support budding artists, Shalini describes her introduction to the art world.
Shalini also describes her foray into interior decor, especially for her own home and how that was the talk of the town for the longest time. Shalini also talks about her spiritual side, be it the encounters in Banaras or shaving her head in Tirumala.
I had been intrigued by Shalini’s life ever since I watched her on the Bollywood wives show. This book is the best way to know about Shalini and to read about her life in the most authentic form – raw, real and unfiltered. I liked that the book covered all aspects of Shalini’s life while keeping the details authentic. Though Shalini uses fabulous as a phrase for every feeling, which is a way of justifying the title of the book, I personally felt that could have been avoided at places.
While the blurb sounded like this is a self-help book, it felt more like a memoir which is intended to inspire its readers and draw example from Shalini’s life and situations she faced with grit and overcame them. Overall, it makes for a good read for anyone who is intrigued by Shalini’s life like me.
My rating:
4/5.