The story encompasses an existentialist’s perspective with the protagonist exploring various elements of existentialism including alienation, freedom, death, hope and despair. The protagonist, Murk Zilch, living an isolated life amongst the mountains undergoes a metamorphosis after the ‘tragic’ death of his little brother. Through the impactful events of the past and his understanding of life, he discovers the essence by deriving meaning in the nothingness of the world.

It acknowledges the absurdity that lay within the foundation of our existence and aims to form out its own subjective essence, thereby defining its individuality. It attempts to provide its readers with an optimistic perspective towards life by shedding materialism and their preconceptions of reality in order to elevate them from the mode of denial to accept the absurdity of our existence while forming their own essence.
The quintessential aspect of the story is that in its entirety it provokes readers to contemplate along with the protagonist over the temporality of existence and the inevitability of death. The book is a perfect starting point for anyone who is interested in existentialism as it encourages the readers into a habit of questioning which is incidentally the point of inception of existentialism. It incorporates Socrates’ method of dialectics as a mode of self-interrogation through monologues, allowing readers to question the genesis of the subject itself. 

Fewer amongst a few out there. A contrast to a simple and daily read. A companion for life. Thought-provoking. Attempts to elevating the readers from the grasp of despair towards a path of enlightenment. Provide a different and yet intriguing way of living.

My Thoughts:

I wasn’t too sure what to expect from this book, it is not necessarily a book I would of chosen myself but wanted to read something a bit different. For me there were lots of words I couldn’t pronounce let alone heard of before The author Aman is a very clever guy who is a final year graduate, and is planning to study psychology. I did have to keep looking up what some of the words meant but I felt as though I learnt a great deal from this book and it was once I definitely will read again. After his brother’s death Murk decides to go on a journey to understand what life is really like, alone in the mountains Mark contemplates what life is like and the meaning of life. The book asks lots of questions but it is a very knowledgeable and interesting story that makes you think. I will be interested to read Aman’s next book.

I received an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

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