Shahan Pervez

A Stranger in a Strange Territory Shahan Pervez

This book is a collection of essays written in four years: 2017-2020. It opens with the piece "You May Not Reap What You Sow," showing the reader a different side of reality. The author goes against what we always hear: Never Give Up, with his essay "Just Give Up." Two themes surface from this essay collection. One theme is whether life is a gift. A few essays may make the reader consider whether life is a gift. Examples could be the essays "A lot More Awaits" and "Not Alone in Being Alone." Another dominant theme of this collection is, You Are Stronger than the Stone You Roll. It is articulated in the last essay, "Futile," which can be felt in most of the pieces that no matter what troubles one goes through, nothing is an excuse for thriving in life. The author is not trying to teach the readers through essays, but an essay is both an expression and an argument, as clarified by Phillip Lopate in his book To Show and to Tell: The Craft of Literary Nonfiction. This essay collection will make the readers reflect.