Review: Stimulating read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 31, 2013
"Delusions of Grandeur" by Jason Najum was given to me by the author for an honest review. In parts written as a memoir about the writer's pain, in parts a stream of consciousness about life, morals and ethics this is an ambitious and inspiring effort.Son of divorced parents the author / character develops an ambiguous relationship towards his environment which he wants to be a part of and then doesn't at the same time. It is most characteristically seen in his favourite writing location in the corner of a café.Once we have an idea about his past and character forming background Najum takes us on towards his philosophical ramblings about his life and the state of the world, picking up the many issues we neglect, conflicts and contradictions we yet have to resolve and his take on how to live in this challenging environment.As society we "swim in a half full glass" but have lost our gratitude and happiness and are now looking for new meaning in life. The latter part of his book focuses on possible solutions to bring back that missing element, such as commercialism, spiritualism, altruism and family.It would be unfair to shorten and summarize his complex and personal message of culutural evolution. Najum himself admits that there is no easy answer. I must admit I do not share or could follow all of his views but I found his reasoning intriguing, interesting and very stimulating. There is no doubt that we deal here with an author of great analytical ability, intelligence and talent. I agree with the author in that there are no easy answers to life's manifold problems but under this premise the book leaves us more aware thanks to the great observations and analysis but left me with a little bit of confusion about its message, which may or may not have been the point of it all.The writing is confident, skilful and easy to follow, despite the heavy theme.Delusions of Grandeur is a great achievement in writing and I certainly did not regret giving it some time to engage with it.