Review of Man Mission
-
G D H
- Book of the Month Participant
- Posts: 140
- Joined: 17 Jun 2021, 05:52
- Favorite Book: Americanah
- Currently Reading: The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Fallacy
- Bookshelf Size: 43
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-g-d-h.html
- Latest Review: Endgame by William Reed
Review of Man Mission
[Following is a volunteer review of "Man Mission" by Eytan Uliel.]
When men brandish the “It is not easy to be a man” saying, most ladies do snort, amused, almost as though they have just heard the most incredulously blasphemous statement ever uttered by anyone born of a woman. Man Mission by Eytan Uliel is a book that brings the too-often-bypassed truth of that too-often-quoted line to light.
A good number of readers consider Man Mission as “part travel narrative and part roman à clef,” but being Joe Average, I beg to classify it as a phenomenal work of creative nonfiction (CNF). This goes without saying that this book is far from being neutral, unaffected by, or unrepresentative of the author’s own real-life experiences.
For Sam, Daniel, Alec, and the narrator, whose name is never mentioned, to go Al Fresco was, among other things, to “touch the face of God.” This consisted in taking a walk in open fields, hiking across snow-capped mountains and white sandy beaches, wading through billowing strands of seaweed and across the loose sands of a dry riverbed with a thirty-pound backpack, sleeping under an incredible canopy of stars, feeding the nostrils with the delicious, compound scent of wildflowers, going ice climbing in Iceland, and winding up in the end at a decent hotel in Tokyo looking like they’ve just been pulled through a keyhole, and in mud-drenched spandex that told a billion ungentlemanlike stories.
However, for these weird pack of friends, even those were not manly enough; there had to be the exhilarating thrill of danger and audacity to splash things up. So they gleefully and most imprudently proceeded to add kissing the maw of a roaring lion in an African jungle and risking being mauled by a Fijian shark to the list.
Doing all these had, at first, meant fulfilling all it took to be “real” men. But when REAL life began hitting hard, they are forced to reconsider all they thought they knew about what it took to be men. This was no longer life as they imagined it, but life as it was—the one no one ever told them about, the one no one has all the answers on; the REAL Man Mission.
Simultaneously checkmated by an unforgiving life, the foursome soon realise that their annual Man Mission has come to represent something else for each one of them—from a consciously elaborated avenue to reconnect with life TO a consciously elaborated avenue to escape it. Soon, each of them began to look forward to their yearly cult escape with greater enthusiasm and a maddening impatience.
“Is there redemption,” the narrator asks himself, “for those who have most shamefully failed at treading the path of real men?” To find decent answers to this and a few dozen other equally sensitive questions, you can’t delay in exchanging those few bucks for the priceless, timeless chunk of wisdom that this book has to offer.
It is impeccably written, piquant, full of wit and humour, and virtually error-free—which, in fact, is an understatement, as it is exceptionally well edited. The elaborate canvass into which it etches itself is nearly out of this world, yet most like it.
I dislike nothing in this book other than its cornered, limited narration. As a young man who finds himself plagued by half of the existential issues treated (some at length some only briskly) in the text of Man Mission, I was hungry for answers. I am sure several other male readers can relate to this heartrending desire for narrative omniscience, for someone has all the answers, or at least for someone conversant with all sides of the equation. Being stuck on a first-person narration meant being in the narrator’s head all the time, and being unable to know in detail what the others were thinking.
But calmed by the intuitive suggestion that manning up involves coming to terms with what little answers there are, and still going ahead to live one’s best life with a grateful heart, I am fully in possession of my wits and sensibilities when I say that I rate Man Mission by Eytan Uliel 5 out of 5 stars.
I recommend this book to men and women alike—men, to learn more about when and how to seek help and comfort in family and friends; and women, to aid and encourage a healthy, more wholesome rethink of masculinity. I recommend Man Mission to every couple, young or old, looking to build or strengthen their relationships in ways that ensure they stand the test of time. This book is for everyone desiring to have a rough blueprint of what to do and not do when setting the foundations for their families.
I reckon finding another book quite like this one would be hard put. Eytan is the man, Man Mission the ultimate masterpiece.
******
Man Mission
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
When men brandish the “It is not easy to be a man” saying, most ladies do snort, amused, almost as though they have just heard the most incredulously blasphemous statement ever uttered by anyone born of a woman. Man Mission by Eytan Uliel is a book that brings the too-often-bypassed truth of that too-often-quoted line to light.
A good number of readers consider Man Mission as “part travel narrative and part roman à clef,” but being Joe Average, I beg to classify it as a phenomenal work of creative nonfiction (CNF). This goes without saying that this book is far from being neutral, unaffected by, or unrepresentative of the author’s own real-life experiences.
For Sam, Daniel, Alec, and the narrator, whose name is never mentioned, to go Al Fresco was, among other things, to “touch the face of God.” This consisted in taking a walk in open fields, hiking across snow-capped mountains and white sandy beaches, wading through billowing strands of seaweed and across the loose sands of a dry riverbed with a thirty-pound backpack, sleeping under an incredible canopy of stars, feeding the nostrils with the delicious, compound scent of wildflowers, going ice climbing in Iceland, and winding up in the end at a decent hotel in Tokyo looking like they’ve just been pulled through a keyhole, and in mud-drenched spandex that told a billion ungentlemanlike stories.
However, for these weird pack of friends, even those were not manly enough; there had to be the exhilarating thrill of danger and audacity to splash things up. So they gleefully and most imprudently proceeded to add kissing the maw of a roaring lion in an African jungle and risking being mauled by a Fijian shark to the list.
Doing all these had, at first, meant fulfilling all it took to be “real” men. But when REAL life began hitting hard, they are forced to reconsider all they thought they knew about what it took to be men. This was no longer life as they imagined it, but life as it was—the one no one ever told them about, the one no one has all the answers on; the REAL Man Mission.
Simultaneously checkmated by an unforgiving life, the foursome soon realise that their annual Man Mission has come to represent something else for each one of them—from a consciously elaborated avenue to reconnect with life TO a consciously elaborated avenue to escape it. Soon, each of them began to look forward to their yearly cult escape with greater enthusiasm and a maddening impatience.
“Is there redemption,” the narrator asks himself, “for those who have most shamefully failed at treading the path of real men?” To find decent answers to this and a few dozen other equally sensitive questions, you can’t delay in exchanging those few bucks for the priceless, timeless chunk of wisdom that this book has to offer.
It is impeccably written, piquant, full of wit and humour, and virtually error-free—which, in fact, is an understatement, as it is exceptionally well edited. The elaborate canvass into which it etches itself is nearly out of this world, yet most like it.
I dislike nothing in this book other than its cornered, limited narration. As a young man who finds himself plagued by half of the existential issues treated (some at length some only briskly) in the text of Man Mission, I was hungry for answers. I am sure several other male readers can relate to this heartrending desire for narrative omniscience, for someone has all the answers, or at least for someone conversant with all sides of the equation. Being stuck on a first-person narration meant being in the narrator’s head all the time, and being unable to know in detail what the others were thinking.
But calmed by the intuitive suggestion that manning up involves coming to terms with what little answers there are, and still going ahead to live one’s best life with a grateful heart, I am fully in possession of my wits and sensibilities when I say that I rate Man Mission by Eytan Uliel 5 out of 5 stars.
I recommend this book to men and women alike—men, to learn more about when and how to seek help and comfort in family and friends; and women, to aid and encourage a healthy, more wholesome rethink of masculinity. I recommend Man Mission to every couple, young or old, looking to build or strengthen their relationships in ways that ensure they stand the test of time. This book is for everyone desiring to have a rough blueprint of what to do and not do when setting the foundations for their families.
I reckon finding another book quite like this one would be hard put. Eytan is the man, Man Mission the ultimate masterpiece.
******
Man Mission
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes
Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now
—Maya Angelou
—Maya Angelou
Latest Review: Endgame by William Reed
