Man's search for meaning

keni  •  5 Oct 2022   •    
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I joined a book club exactly a year ago. It was a group of Ethiopian ladies that met via zoom one day a month to discuss the book that was chosen for the previous month. Both fiction and non-fiction is allowed. I remember writing about how great that book club experience has been for me. The group has exposed me to some good books and a couple of boring ones. But I enjoyed every meeting to discuss the books.

This last month, I recommended my #1 favorite book of all time - Man’s search for meaning by Viktor Frankl. It has been over a decade since I read the book for the first time. I have since read the book a few more times.

When the book club had our meeting last week, I was very eager to hear what the other ladies thought of the book. To my surprise, only 2 out of 15 people found it good. Almost every one didn’t finish the book. All said it was dark and depressing and didn’t see the point.

I know the book is heavy but I didn’t expect this much negative feedback. When I went on to tell them why I liked the book, most were surprised at the things I pointed out.

It was such an eye opening experience to realize how different all of us are - even if we have things in common. I know now that I am a fan of reading about books with topics like man’s search for meaning, about happiness, about suffering, about dealing with disease and how to become antifragile. My affinity to such topics is a result of my experiences and what I tend to get from reading such books.

Comments

This is also one of my favorite books! This year I even gifted it to a close friend who was struggling who didn’t even liked reading that much. He later told me that the book was a huge factor in getting himself out of depression.

I am not that surprised that not everyone enjoyed it, because I remember I was in only able to take in a lot of the things Frankl was writing about because I was going through some personal struggles myself. It’s a shame because if they were patient, they would have understood how deeply optimistic that book was, and the optimism felt very earned.

andrewtsao  •  6 Oct 2022, 2:34 am

That is such a perfect line at the end in your comment. “How deeply optimistic that book was”. Somehow I didn’t use those words. But I talked about how I read it at a time when I was going through a touch time. The book made me both cry at many instances but it touched me more than any book I ever read. I think we are the lucky ones to have experienced the book so deeply. You friend is lucky to have you gift him this gem.

keni  •  8 Oct 2022, 1:38 am

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