Dear Mom: Finding Hope, Happiness and Her by Jigar Prajapati
Book Review by Dhiraj Sindhi
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| Dear Mom by Jigar Prajapati |
Author: Jigar Prajapati
ISBN: 979-8885036436
Genre: Personal & Confessional Memoir
Length: 168 Pages
Publication Date: 4th March 2022
Publisher: Notion Press
Order your copy right now: https://amzn.to/3Gve5zc
About the author:
Jigar Prajapati, a 32-year-old guy, never thought of writing before. But as soon as he finished his first book, a new topic came to his mind. It Must Have Been Love was the first book that he launched in December 2020. The launching of his first book made him confident enough to produce another by creating a time slot from his regular work of Consulting, Engineering, and as a Builder in Ahmedabad.
While the author was writing his first book, his mom was in a very critical health condition. He prayed a lot and tried everything he could do to save her.
The author tried to write the same in his new book, Dear Mom. Writing about the closest person of his life was pretty easy. But when he started, he found so many wrong things that he’d done to his Mom during his life.
This book is the author’s tribute to his mom. It’s his apology to his mom. This book is a memoir of the relationship of the author, his mom, and his family.
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| Jigar Prajapati |
Instagram: @jigar_author
Facebook: Jigar Prajapati
Disclaimer: This review is only intended for initiating discussions. The opinions and views presented in this article are my own and do not reflect anything about the book's author.
REVIEW
Dear Mom is a confessional memoir written by Jigar Prajapati as a tribute as well as an apology to his mother; the book narrates the psychological state of the author during the flurry of stressful hospital visits when his mother gets hospitalized because of a brain hemorrhage; while seeking forgiveness, the harrowing memories flood back to the author; amongst the portrayal of the average Indian household troubles and how they are dealt with, this memoir confronts the poor state of psychiatry and mental health awareness in the country.
Set somewhere in Gujarat, Dear Mom spans 21 days of the mother’s hospital journey, the narration moving between the past and the present. The book is written in raw conversational language and it mostly comprises dialogues, which complements the simple style. The memoir begins with the brain stroke and the focus is shifted to the author’s lack of acquaintance with the hospital’s nitty-gritty, which a lot of us can relate with. The author acknowledges the privilege of having doctors in the family and resources available for the treatment.
I would divide this memoir into three parts based on the prevalent themes and/or subjects. Firstly, the hospital experience. No matter how much you prepare for a medical emergency or any unprecedented event, you will be faced with a new, out-of-the-box challenge every time. Regular hospital visits for your loved ones often entail a strong psychological impact especially when you are not able to communicate with them. The author undergoes this experience and emerges with a good change of mindset and manages to keep sanity throughout the major turn of events.
Other subjects that are prevalent here are little dysfunctions in an average Indian household and how they are dealt with, and schizophrenia. Most of the family quarrels and troubles are caused by dysfunctions like child neglect by one of the parents, rigid boundaries between gender roles and responsibilities, etc. For me, these two themes were interconnected, which should not be the case. The lack of mental health awareness and the scarcity of resources and the stigma, all lead to the handling of mental disorders like schizophrenia as if it is some familial or social issue to be resolved. The reason could be that these disorders oftentimes manifest in the form of conflicts in relationships. Considering the condition of mental healthcare in India, people mostly resort to google for answers.
A few pages in the beginning and a few in the end perfectly described the bond the author shared with his mother. That was the kind of vibe I expected from the book. However, the book as a whole did not follow the title rather it focused more on the troubles that schizophrenia and the brain hemorrhage attracted. The simple language constrained the author’s expression. Overall, it was a page-turner filled with anecdotes introducing you to the author's family as a character, and familiarizing you with different experiences.
Happy Reading!
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Will see you in the next post. Till then buh-bye. Take Care. Peace. ☮
