Review of Man Mission

[DyanaFl]

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

---

4 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

Don’t we all dream of taking a break from our lives to go wandering through the depths of nature? An escape from the stress and the burden of responsibilities that life thrusts on us is always welcome. This book awakens your wanderlust, transports you to surreal landscapes, and also makes you think long and hard about what it means to go through life.

Man Mission by Eytan Uliel is a travelog-cum-diary that takes us through 15 years of the narrator’s life. It shows us the friendship of four young men— Daniel, Sam, Alec, and our narrator. When the narrator was in college, he made a pact with Sam to go on an adventure trip once a year. Though initially forgotten, the pact gets renewed once again when they are both saturated with office lives. They successfully (almost successfully in the narrator’s case) completed a trip to New Zealand, and the Man Mission Charter was officially born. Over the next few years, they included Daniel and Alec in their trips and created a long-standing tradition of going on a crazy, dangerous, not-always-wise trip once every year. Sam is the Fire-maker, Daniel— the Organizer, Alec— the Tech guy, and our narrator is the Navigator. Their trips consist of biking, kayaking, hiking, etc., and spans countries like Spain, Thailand, South Korea, Hawaii, etc. The dormant traveler inside you is sure to awaken once you read this book.

The book also takes us through the changes the four friends experience in their lives. Adulting is not what they expected, and they try to figure out how to balance work, personal life, and self-care. We see how marriage, kids, financial stability, emotional stability, and other factors influence our narrator in his actions and decisions. Man Mission becomes a tradition because they all need to get away and engage in introspection. We see how they progress from dashing young men to middle-aged men who look way out of shape to be adventuring at that age. Their conversations change from jobs and women to serious baby conversations like diaper superiority. Someone gets divorced, someone goes on a break from their spouse, someone hits rock bottom, and we get to see how they handle all the changes.

I loved how the author balanced adventures with beautiful scenes and vivid descriptions alongside the taxing regularity of everyday life. I loved how he showed how important friends are in pulling you out of the darkness that engulfs you. The peace and beauty that nature has to offer were also well outlined. There is humor in the book and also lines that make you wonder what it means to live a fulfilled life. Our narrator messes up in a bad way but he suffers the consequences and keeps moving forward. Toxic masculinity and its effects are also addressed nicely. As you read, you realize that the best and most dangerous Man Mission each of us has is our own life. There are relevant quotes by a famous person, quotes from the Scripture, and tiny maps of the adventure place and mode of transport used just before each Man Mission. That was a nice touch.

There’s nothing I disliked about the book. There’s plenty of swearing and profanity but it didn’t bother me as it felt ‘in-character.’ I would have preferred to know the name of the narrator for sure. He is referred to as Charlie Brown in the book once, but I didn’t get whether it was his real name or not. Additionally, as the book is written entirely from a man’s perspective, it comes off as sexist at times.

I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. The negatives mentioned above did not merit a star deduction. The book is professionally edited and beautifully written. I would suggest it to everyone who likes to travel and also appreciates deep thinking. The book would especially appeal to men as they will find it relatable. The presence of profanity and the occasional sexual content make me caution against young minds reading it.

******
Man Mission
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon | on iTunes

[Soraya Bayah]

You beautifully listed everything this book has to offer, and definitely piqued my interest in it. I am eager to know what their trips were like. Thank you for the amazing review!

[Janet Kimetto]

I've decided to review this book next, and I can see that I'll enjoy reading it. Thank you for your detailed and wonderful review!

[DyanaFl]

You beautifully listed everything this book has to offer, and definitely piqued my interest in it. I am eager to know what their trips were like. Thank you for the amazing review!

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! I like your profile pic!

[DyanaFl]

I've decided to review this book next, and I can see that I'll enjoy reading it. Thank you for your detailed and wonderful review!

You won't regret it. Thanks for reading!

[Victor Jerry I]

I reviewed this book, you made a good review and I can say I also enjoyed the book. I hope to experience something similar with my guys someday.

[SamaylaM]

This book sounds like an authentic and heartwarming read that is nicely edited. So, I can understand why you gave it a perfect rating. Thank you for writing an extremely detailed and good review!

[Mildred Echesa]

I read this book a couple of days a ago, and I loved the fact that the men kept on going on those man missions despite the hardships

[DyanaFl]

I reviewed this book, you made a good review and I can say I also enjoyed the book. I hope to experience something similar with my guys someday.

Thanks for stopping by! And yes, having such trips with your best friends would be a dream come true.

[DyanaFl]

I read this book a couple of days a ago, and I loved the fact that the men kept on going on those man missions despite the hardships

Yeahh! I loved how they never gave up. Thanks for leaving a comment!

[DyanaFl]

This book sounds like an authentic and heartwarming read that is nicely edited. So, I can understand why you gave it a perfect rating. Thank you for writing an extremely detailed and good review!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

[Honest-reviewer]

The story of these four friends seem interesting. Thanks for your amazing review!

[jimmy02]

I submitted my review for Man Mission last night. And I must agree, it was one heck of an adventure! My EPUB version was, well, very disorganised? Did you face the same issue?

[danopsyfarm1]

Reading this novel was interesting and i felt the perseverance in this men as they move from one mission to the other, Great review.

[DyanaFl]

I submitted my review for Man Mission last night. And I must agree, it was one heck of an adventure! My EPUB version was, well, very disorganised? Did you face the same issue?

Yes, indeed it was disorganized, of sorts! It was a bummer as it hampered my reading experience a bit, but I still had fun.