Book: What Life Says?
Author: Shahid Hussain Mir
Reviewer: Mazhar Iqbal Mazhar
“What Life Says” is a book of brainy quotations written by Shahid Hussain Mir. Though the author claims that it is a social and cultural commentary, it is more like an insightful and clever portrayal of life. He describes it as a door to illuminate the darkness of your heart. The readers will tell us how it illuminates their hearts. For, me it has done the job meticulously as I greatly enjoyed reading it.
Interestingly, the author has painted the picture of life in a very informal, conversational, and friendly tone without the slightest expression of wordiness or heaviness. The writing style is straightforward and touching. He writes in a very casual, relaxed, polite, and motivational approach.
The book is dedicated to world peace and the sacrifices of martyred children in Jammu and Kashmir.
It is interesting to read in the introduction how this young writer found reason to jump into such a unique idea to write pearls of wisdom.
From friendship to success, hope, and freedom, the writer has penned down excellent quotations on over 17 different topics. These are according to the author’s opinion universal themes that exist in every society and are essential to life. He believes that everyone has a purpose behind their life and that life has a message for them.
Shahid’s lines are not just an anthology of words, but the humble messages of life. The writer believes that life is not just about entering and facing the harsh realities of the physical world, and then moving on to the abstract world of never-ending dreams. Rather, it leads us to find the purpose of our existence in the world of materialism. So it is important that we consider the abstract way of using hard facts. And find ways and means to transform the undesirable world around us into a reality that is closer to our dreams.
I have picked a few of the gems from this book:
- Time is like an ocean wave that can either take you closer to the shore or farther away.
- I wonder why people attempt suicide when there is a word of hope in the world.
- The best image of love is the mother.
- Knowledge is a sea. The deeper you dive, the more you gain.
Several of the quotations written by Shahid are simple and clear messages of sharpness and wisdom. Such as “if you want to make enemies make your friends know your secrets” or “trust is often killed by trustworthy”. Still, some ideas are either a bit difficult or somewhat confusing. Like the idea that “a good friend does not give you what you expect but the one who gives you what you don’t expect”.
Some of the lines sound idiomatic or even hyperbolic as they have been framed in a literary and rhetorical way but they can’t be either simile or metaphor. They are just words put together to make some meaning context. This amazing skill shows the working of an intelligent, insightful, and clever mind.
Shahid Mir has written these quotations that sound like impressive pieces of advice. To do justice to the idea of writing in an intellectual way, he has extensively used wise, witty, and scintillating words. The communication is simple and captivating. By reading it, I have got glimpses of an intellectual mind. I wish him every success in his intellectual and spiritual experiments that can be seen vividly speaking in this book through brilliant expression.
