Book Review 

Title of the Book: Life

Author's Name: Tomichan Matheikal

Format: PDF

 

Life, a four letter word that has innumerable magnitude of meanings yet for each individual it is unique. This book titled Life, which is a collection of 24 essays convey similar depth of various aspect of life yet, every reader of this book will have an unique experience.

About the Author:

The Author is a learner and a passionate teacher, reader and writer, blogger and author. He has
published a number of books. English Poetry (literary criticism, 2001) was his first publication in book form and a novel Black Hole (2021) is the latest. Both are available at Amazon India. Autumn Shadows (2019) is his memoir which reflects his candidness as well as
his waywardness. His short stories were published in three anthologies. He blogs regularly at
matheikal.blogspot.com.

Narration: The flow of thoughts is smooth and guides the reader from one perspective to another while he switches from one essay to another. The simplicity of language very well connects with the readers and conveys the thoughts of the author lucidly to its reader.

Book Cover & Title: The title is very apt because this book stands true to its title where like life, this book revolves around many topics and leaves its readers with unique experience. The book cover is a beautiful scenery in a shade of blue and is a merging point of land, ocean & the sky depicting the melting pot of philosophies that try to throw light on life itself , discover its meaning & purpose!

Content:

Have you ever imagined a blank canvas, a big wide one, where you can splash myriad colors and then wait for the outcome? Interesting , isn’t it? You will have similar feeling while reading this book, as with chapter, the reader is transported to a different land altogether. The book is a melting pot of many thoughts ranging from politics, religion, literature, art and tries to decipher the meaning of life & its purpose. The first chapter is titled Absurdity! yes, this is the blank canvas where the author with his skillful & experienced writing has been able to put life into the book and compels the readers to contemplate on deeper meaning of life. How does God & religion shape someone’s thought or rather give meaning to their life, how does being a rebel makes sense, the cause & effect of bandwagon effect to self introspection; this book will let your mind to open its horizon and take in all the ideas just like a sponge absorbs all the water put on it.

“Life is never easy for anyone though many people are lucky to be born in circumstances that support healthy growth and development while quite many others have to endure much agony to get stray ecstasies.” says the author while he throws light on Ego Integrity. The essay very rightly says that the occasionally, instead of falling silent, we need to be able to put our disappointments into words for others to understand.

There is a flow in the book and each chapter builds on the previous chapter paving a wider thought process to follow. The references in the book to Greek mythology, Mahabharata, to recent political upheavals, Karma theory & whether it really exists or not, Kafka’s prison, the concept of Humanism etc. . form many such characteristic features of the book. The Author has been able to put across many quotes by famous personalities throughout the book and makes you wonder, how well read is the author himself and at some point , you might really desperately want to read all those books yourself.

It can be said that these are not just essays ,but rather a clear reflection of our own lives in the current times, times that are unprecedented due to many factors that are affecting us either directly or indirectly. The reader might need little time to grasp the significance of this capsulated form of wisdom as I did. when you come across thoughts like,” We need a paradigm shift. Desperately so. We have messed up this world of ours terribly. We need to reshape our earth and our heavens. We need a paradigm shift.” and many such ocean depth viewpoints, you need a little break to evaluate your rationality . But , the book is not all serious when the chapter takes you to 1970s the illustrious pop group, ABBA, which sang about Chiquitita’s sorrows( “You’re enchained by your own sorrow,”) and very effectively passes on the message to its readers

Reading the book is like immersing yourself in the philosophical river and allowing yourself to flow with the waves of knowledge, wisdom, ideas, logical thoughts & leaves the readers wanting only more.

Some of the lines that touched my heart are as below:

Your soul is your property and your destiny. It is 
your burden and your joy. That is the ultimate 
absurdity of life. Face that absurdity. Take over its 
challenges. Work with those challenges with 
unconditional integrity. In spite of your frailty which 
is humanity’s frailty itself. In spite of your 
limitations which are humanity’s own limitations. 
Your life will become much richer and happier if you 
can do this.

“You will find philosophy, literature, and religion mingling with each other seamlessly in this
volume.”, says the Author.

I strongly recommend my readers to read this book and help themselves thrive in their lives and not just survive.

The book is available for free download on the Blogchatter website: LIFE -24 Essays

PS. This book is part of #BlogChatterEbook carnival in which my book, Heartfelt Symphonies was also launched and is available for free download as of now.

Love,

Chinmayee