Review: My World Without Jehan by Liana Mistry

In today’s globalised world, death and suicide are reduced to a statistic, a number that is used when we want to make an educated point. In the author’s words, “A kid who had never lifted a finger in his life, bolstered by fulsome praise from all sides, and suddenly bereft of his own family, was now going to be living in a strange new environment, admittedly in the same town he loves and called home, but far from his mother.” While this shift left Fali to adapt to a new home, it left Jehan and the author to fend for each other. My World Without Jehan is the story of the poignant childhood of a troubled boy who is repeatedly dealt life-altering events while the behavioural symptoms of his mental troubles go unseen – a locked bathroom with smoke billowing out and Jehan trapped inside follows a falling out with a close friend; the marriage of one of his crushes leads to Jehan failing his tenth standard exams and sliding into a “zombie-like existence”; the many unrequited loves followed by emotional upheavals. Though the book carries within it the dark weight of grave themes such as death, guilt, and the burden of her family’s erasure of her brother’s memory, a wry wit fills Mistry’s prose. In the end, My World Without Jehan is a remarkable read; one that is highly recommended not only for its prose and multiple mediations on love, loss and family, but also for its ability to function as a manual to know one’s self better.