3 out of 4 stars
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Regardless of what you may think while holding it for the first time, this book is not what you expect it to be. Man Mission by Eytan Uliel may seem like a travel diary, a regular kind of novel, or a biography at first. It’s all three at once, yet neither would fully suffice as a category. This book is about looking for your place in the world. It’s a journey for the sake of finding what’s beautiful in life and losing yourself in it. It is also about the not-so-pretty parts of life. This is a good book in its own way and had beautiful, life-changing moments. But at times, I also disliked it.
The story is about four friends, but mostly about the main character that holds this group together. He and his friends, Sam, Daniel, and Alec wander through life, spicing it up with yearly adventurous trips to various countries, like Japan, New Zealand, Fiji or Spain. We also get glimpses of their everyday lives for fifteen years.
I always enjoyed reading about exotic locations, mostly the rare ones that few people ever get to see. This book is full of those unknown but wonderful places. Like an abandoned trail on Mount Fuji, or an uninhabited island that’s completely closed off from the rest of the world. I also have a soft spot for reading about food. If I have to choose one thing I liked most about the book, this would be that part. These guys know how to have a good meal, even in the poorest and most unusual places. Sure, they like steak, sushi, and other specialties as much as the next person. But have you ever had a puffin burger? Fries from a vending machine? Do you know what melona bars are? You may think that you never want to taste these things at all. But I can promise you this one thing: You will, after reading this book.
But it’s not all about fun. It’s also a story that’s obviously very focused on what it means to be a man in this century. It represents frighteningly well, just exactly how much weight our society puts on men’s – on everyone’s – shoulders. I found these kinds of struggles easy to relate to. But in other cases, I simply just couldn’t understand the reasoning of the main character. I often felt he made no sense, complained a lot, and his logic was also flawed. His inconsistency in various aspects of life made me frustrated with this book. This is the part that bothered me the most. For me, being able to relate to the characters of the book is crucial. At the finish line, though, I was finally able to connect with the book, appreciating the journey it took me on, both figuratively and literally speaking. But the time it took to get there, made me a bit disappointed.
Since I have mixed feelings about it, I have been thinking for a long time if I should give this book 2 or 3 stars. I strongly feel that it’s exactly in the middle for me. In the end, I decided to rate this book 3 out of 4 stars for two reasons. Firstly, because it made me think through things I rarely ever thought about before. Secondly, because I feel, that the right parts outmatched the wrong ones. Overall, I think it was worth it to read this book. I would recommend it to anyone, who loves journeys, and everyday life adventure stories, and has a philosophical side. If you are disheartened by a stumbling protagonist, this book may not be for you.
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Man Mission
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