Review by Meadow Fox -- Man Mission by Eytan Uliel
Posted: 05 Feb 2020, 12:33
[Following is a volunteer review of "Man Mission" by Eytan Uliel.]
Man Mission by Eytan Uliel follows the main character and his three friends as they travel on their yearly men’s vacation, and through the course of their lives. Through all the ups and downs it brings them as they find partners and get married, have children, and deal with the loss of loved ones while struggling with midlife crises.
The characters all felt like real humans, which is a difficult thing to do, but they all had their distinct personalities without feeling like overdone caricatures, and I truly felt with them through each of their highs and lows.
The settings were wonderfully described. I especially liked reading about each of the places where they went. The detailed landscapes were really nice, and I could picture them vividly.
The plot moves smoothly through one adventure to the next. Even though a time-lapse of a year happens between each one, I never felt like time was skipping. There were enough flashbacks between adventure scenes that it feels like we got to see the entire year with each chapter.
The worst thing I can say about this book is that it jumps around a lot between scenes during the individual trips and scenes before the trips. While I liked all the scenes and thought them necessary, it just felt like some of them could have been combined so as to not be bouncing back and forth quite so much.
One of my favourite parts was when they were in Japan at the airport with their mountain bikes, their out of shape bodies squeezed into the florescent Lycra bike-wear and a Japanese lady covered her child’s eyes as they walked by. I found this so funny I literally laughed out loud. I also found the Tiger Balm incident in New Zealand particularly humorous as well.
Although this book has a decidedly ‘told’ feel about it, in my opinion, it adds rather than subtracts from the story. It feels a lot like someone sitting down and telling the story of their life, but with the boring stuff left out.
I rate this book four out of four stars. I found this novel charmingly witty. It had a nice balance of humour and life wisdom that I found refreshing and relaxing to read. The book was also very well edited.
Readers who I think would like this book are those who like to laugh and cry with the characters. Who want to see characters embark, not just on adventures of faraway places, but to join in the adventure of life as well.
******
Man Mission
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Man Mission by Eytan Uliel follows the main character and his three friends as they travel on their yearly men’s vacation, and through the course of their lives. Through all the ups and downs it brings them as they find partners and get married, have children, and deal with the loss of loved ones while struggling with midlife crises.
The characters all felt like real humans, which is a difficult thing to do, but they all had their distinct personalities without feeling like overdone caricatures, and I truly felt with them through each of their highs and lows.
The settings were wonderfully described. I especially liked reading about each of the places where they went. The detailed landscapes were really nice, and I could picture them vividly.
The plot moves smoothly through one adventure to the next. Even though a time-lapse of a year happens between each one, I never felt like time was skipping. There were enough flashbacks between adventure scenes that it feels like we got to see the entire year with each chapter.
The worst thing I can say about this book is that it jumps around a lot between scenes during the individual trips and scenes before the trips. While I liked all the scenes and thought them necessary, it just felt like some of them could have been combined so as to not be bouncing back and forth quite so much.
One of my favourite parts was when they were in Japan at the airport with their mountain bikes, their out of shape bodies squeezed into the florescent Lycra bike-wear and a Japanese lady covered her child’s eyes as they walked by. I found this so funny I literally laughed out loud. I also found the Tiger Balm incident in New Zealand particularly humorous as well.
Although this book has a decidedly ‘told’ feel about it, in my opinion, it adds rather than subtracts from the story. It feels a lot like someone sitting down and telling the story of their life, but with the boring stuff left out.
I rate this book four out of four stars. I found this novel charmingly witty. It had a nice balance of humour and life wisdom that I found refreshing and relaxing to read. The book was also very well edited.
Readers who I think would like this book are those who like to laugh and cry with the characters. Who want to see characters embark, not just on adventures of faraway places, but to join in the adventure of life as well.
******
Man Mission
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes