Review by La Loca Designs -- Man Mission by Eytan Uliel
Posted: 08 Feb 2020, 19:37
[Following is a volunteer review of "Man Mission" by Eytan Uliel.]
In Man Mission, Eytan Uliel writes about fifteen years of his life and the annual boys’ trip that he and his three best friends took together. Each chapter intersperses stories from the vacation, or man mission, with stories from the author’s life at home in Australia. The reader follows Eytan and his friends to places like New Zealand, Vietnam, and South Africa while also watching him get married, start a family, and navigate his career.
I really like the structure of this book. Each chapter focuses around one man mission. The chapters start with a small map of the vacation destination with icons that describe the activities and memories associated with that trip. The chapter narration starts with an interesting moment from the trip, followed by the planning process. The remainder of each chapter intersperses stories from the vacations with events from the author’s life at home and work. The chapters end with statistics from the trip, such as how far they traveled, modes of transportation used, and injuries sustained.
I also like the idea of the man mission, of having an annual friend trip with guidelines. The Man Mission Charter lists all the guidelines for their vacations, including the fact that bathing is optional. The most interesting thing for me is the idea that they had to “travel under [their] own power” during their vacation. This leads to kayaking, biking, hiking, and makes each trip more of an adventure.
This book has a huge emphasis on manliness, unfortunately. I feel like each of the friends in the group could have benefitted from ignoring their need to be manly once in a while. So many parts of the author’s story could have been so different if he had been able to talk about his feelings more, or at all. The one part of the Man Mission Charter that I dislike is the pink bracelet. If any of the men whine too much during the adventure, he has to wear a pink bracelet that originally belonged to one of their daughters.
Overall I rate the book 4 out of 4. The author’s writing style is engaging and easy to read. The book is well-paced and well-edited. The changing perspective from man mission to home life is well-written and not distracting. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys travel and undertaking a challenge. I also recommend this book to those who enjoy reading memoirs. It is an interesting look into the mind of a man trying to find his place in the world. I found it hard to put down.
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Man Mission
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
In Man Mission, Eytan Uliel writes about fifteen years of his life and the annual boys’ trip that he and his three best friends took together. Each chapter intersperses stories from the vacation, or man mission, with stories from the author’s life at home in Australia. The reader follows Eytan and his friends to places like New Zealand, Vietnam, and South Africa while also watching him get married, start a family, and navigate his career.
I really like the structure of this book. Each chapter focuses around one man mission. The chapters start with a small map of the vacation destination with icons that describe the activities and memories associated with that trip. The chapter narration starts with an interesting moment from the trip, followed by the planning process. The remainder of each chapter intersperses stories from the vacations with events from the author’s life at home and work. The chapters end with statistics from the trip, such as how far they traveled, modes of transportation used, and injuries sustained.
I also like the idea of the man mission, of having an annual friend trip with guidelines. The Man Mission Charter lists all the guidelines for their vacations, including the fact that bathing is optional. The most interesting thing for me is the idea that they had to “travel under [their] own power” during their vacation. This leads to kayaking, biking, hiking, and makes each trip more of an adventure.
This book has a huge emphasis on manliness, unfortunately. I feel like each of the friends in the group could have benefitted from ignoring their need to be manly once in a while. So many parts of the author’s story could have been so different if he had been able to talk about his feelings more, or at all. The one part of the Man Mission Charter that I dislike is the pink bracelet. If any of the men whine too much during the adventure, he has to wear a pink bracelet that originally belonged to one of their daughters.
Overall I rate the book 4 out of 4. The author’s writing style is engaging and easy to read. The book is well-paced and well-edited. The changing perspective from man mission to home life is well-written and not distracting. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys travel and undertaking a challenge. I also recommend this book to those who enjoy reading memoirs. It is an interesting look into the mind of a man trying to find his place in the world. I found it hard to put down.
******
Man Mission
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes