Review of Man Mission

[OTrain Disene]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Man Mission" by Eytan Uliel.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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We all have probably had aspirations of travelling the world, seeing famous monuments and landmarks, participating in extreme activities that push us to our limits, and just meeting regular foreign people and learning about their culture. But as we grow old, it is very easier to forget about these aspirations of us. We end up getting too caught in our careers and families that by the time we raise our heads from the chaos of every day, the time has passed, and there is nothing we can do. In this book, we meet people who don’t let circumstances get in their way of fulfilling their dreams, which is of travelling the world. Man Mission by Eytan Uliel is inspiring, hilarious, and so motivating.

The book opens up with the protagonist narrating how he met someone at school, who later came to play a huge role in his life, and whom he would actually bond with and do extra, insane things with. The protagonist met Sam at school, and at first, the protagonist didn’t see that much in Sam, but he managed to change his mind. But now, three years later, the protagonist is stuck at his job with nothing much interesting to do. One day, he receives a call from Sam, and he tells him to “let’s go.” Sam says they should go wherever they want since it was their dream to travel.

They start by hiking in New Zealand. They haven’t done this before, so they are still amateurs. They get scared easily by the animals, even the harmless ones. They take forever to set a tent, and someone gets injured. It’s all just chaos. But they manage to complete this mission of theirs—finally. In their personal lives, one gets married, while the other is living like a bachelor. The protagonist is seeing someone, and it is getting serious between them.

The next stop is Japan, and things also go sideways as before in this second Man Mission. But this is when the biggest tradition of them all is created. Can they possibly do these Man Missions, especially since they are grown men with adult responsibilities now? How will they juggle the demand of their personal lives and their aspirations? Find this book for more.

Indeed a journey of thousand miles start with the first step. If Sam hadn’t called that day and told the protagonist to just go, then all of this wouldn’t have been born. This was inspiring. It taught me that the best way to seize an opportunity is to do something right now while you are thinking about it before procrastination creeps up on you and fills you with doubts and end up not doing it.

There are many things I have loved about this book. Number one is the humour that was employed. I couldn’t get over the banter between the protagonist and Sam, especially at the beginning of their Man Mission. When they got scared by an animal in the bushes left me in stitches. It was realistic. This is what one would expect from the beginners who spend their first night outside. Number two is the characterisation and the plot. The characters were well developed. The shift between the future and the past was very helpful as I got to see people they were before the Man Mission, during, and after. The plot made sense. I didn’t come across any plot holes.

The book was organised into three parts: the beginning, the middle, and the end. This depicted the events well and showed them in perfect chronological order. I was able to understand without getting lost. And as the trips got added, I could see how mature they all got. They no longer seemed like the inexperienced individuals who went hiking in New Zealand. The maps provided at the beginning of every chapter were so helpful. They may come in handy for people who are not familiar with counties on the world map.

The thing I disliked about the book was its font. I received the EPUB version of the book, but the font was way too tiny for me to read. I had to zoom in, and when I wanted to turn the page, zoom out. It slowed me down, and it was an inconvenience. But besides that, everything impressed me. The quotes at the beginning of every chapter were so inspirational.

I'm happy to rate this book four out of four stars. I only came across one error, proving that the book was professionally edited. The book would appeal mostly to people who love travel books/journals. I would recommend it to teenagers and young adults. I can tell that the author drew inspiration from his personal travel experiences around the globe.

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Man Mission
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[Judy46]

I agree with your review. It is an amazing book, however, I had the same issue with the epub version as well. Great review.

[Oyedeji Funmilayo]

I enjoyed your review and the writing style of the author. I look forward to reading the book. Welldone!!!