Bustle ‘Bout Books: Review- ‘Against All Odds’ By Mahima Nayar

Title: Against All Odds

Author: Mahima Nayar

Genre: Non-fiction

Publisher: Sage Publishing

My Rating: 4.5/5 stars

*NOTE: I am extremely grateful to Sage Publishing for sending me this book. However, this does not at all hinder my honest opinions regarding the book. This is a spoiler-free review. All opinions are solely mine.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

‘Against All Odds’ by Mahima Nayar is a book that will take you far into the streets and show you exactly how women deal with psychosocial distress in their everyday lives.

For a psychology-enthusiast like me, this book is a gold mine. The fact that this book is very focused on a particular theme (psychological distress among women from low-income backgrounds) that is unique, is something that intrigues me a lot.

The book enlightens the reader with many theories and case studies and the reader is able to grasp the realities in the truest sense.

There are many things that I like about this book. Firstly, I love the fact that instead of instantly jumping to the main theme of the book, the author has made an effort to explain the readers about what exactly is ‘madness’ and ‘distress’. It has a detailed ‘Introduction’ which gives the reader a strong background to start the book with. Secondly, the author has backed up all the theories with case studies that she herself, being a researcher, has conducted. To keep the intent of the responses of her case-study subjects intact, the author has sometimes used Hindi language with English translation below the sentences. Thirdly, after stating the responses of the subjects, the author also explains what would have compelled her subjects to answer the way they did. Fourthly, this book gives a detailed description of the everyday happenings in lives of women that cause them distress. Fifthly, the author has given due credit to the psychologists and psychiatrists who have come up with specific theories in regard to the theme in hand.

All in all, this book is a great compilation of the research work done by the author who herself “is an independent researcher with fifteen years’ experience in social work practice and academics”.

This book does have a few typing errors which are only observed while reading very closely. They do not come in the way of efficient reading.

This book is for all those who like explore the psychological realities of today. It is for those who specifically want to know how women from low-income backgrounds cope with mental ill-health and how the society perceives them. I definitely recommend this book to people keen on doing a research in this field or a research for their own understanding.

Have you read this book? Are you planning to? What do you think about my review? Do let me know in the comments section below!

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