Harsimran Kaur On  May 24, 2024, In Book Review, Magic Pill by Johann Hari – Non Fiction

Rating: 5/5

Magic Pill by Johann Hari Book Review

I am crossing a bridge; below rapids entangle in the mystified wind, not to be seen. Their conceited analogy amazes me; up & down, turning deliquescent as they roar intemperately to touch the invisible sky. Isn’t there a possibility of the bridge breaking hard by the concurrent upheaval of the waves? I must pick up the weight of my feet to walk; in distress I fail to look back, till the end nudges me to slow down. I am happy that I am off the unaccommodating fear of losing myself. I sit and look at the bridge! The symbolic structure is lean in its physiognomy, inviolable and full of endurance.

‘Bridge’ as a metaphor is the succulent life we tread on. It becomes tasteless at times but at that point we tend to appetize ourselves with desultory and discursives, but fail to look behind the entire trail of the bridge. We fail to reason the collectives that make the world crouch in ambivalence. We fail to look behind because we are in a hurry to cross the bridge; we fail to accept the decrepit so as to reach the perpetuity of survival.

Ever heard of Ozempic? It’s the new heavy-handed survival pill, for those who are in a hurry to discredit their bodies of the natural propulsion. Ozempic and other weight loss drugs are like the pyroclastic flow beneath the bridge that can either rub off as an obtrude legacy or come as a hailstorm to take you on a whirlwind of incessant euphoria.

Have any of you even been in acceptance of denial of these hubristic drugs? There would be ‘why’ to every ‘yes’ and a ‘why’ to every ‘no’. The assessments could vary;

• An effectual certitude might have lifted you up to come out of the pyrrhic overweight mess.
• Uncontrolled diabetes would be like a pondweed growing imprudently, and time is not far when a powerful eddy would grip it too.
• The beauty finds resonance in the years of self-denial. Acceptance of it vanishing finds validation in charring the fat off the body. Think again? Can the disheveled leaves brushed on the ground be connected to the earthen branch? Then why make human solipsism an imperative need.

Johann Hari, the acclaimed write of ‘Stolen Focus’ has too crossed the bridge and the thunder of ‘Ozempic’- the magic pill’ did not elude him. Did he too forget to look behind the trail and assess if his obesity was a reason of past corrigendum? His predisposition to look back comes from an indiscriminate need to argue if taking weight loss drugs make you a marionette or enables you to hold the strings of life firmly.

What he sees behind? The types of food for a healthy weight, falling in love with one’s body and nourishing it and the psychological mistrust of the basic necessities of life; he sees all and standing at the end of the bridge finds a neglected mind with scoops of weight hoarded in the po-faced body, now looking for alternatives to grime the juice of depravity.

Is Ozempic the answer? Or for that matter, other weight-loss drugs that are pitted against the obviate. Of course! Anything that has the capability of transforming the discordant habitual tendencies is ‘magical’.

Johann Hari, the author of ‘Magical Pill’ is enterprising to disgorge OZEMPIC as the piece de resistance for the diabetic and the obese; however it may turn out to be a poisoned chalice for the defeatist.

His experience of taking Ozempic either falls as a mare’s nest or a manqué; too much at stake I guess to come at a probable conclusion. Anyways, his taking the pill hits like cudgel blows raising a halberd of extrapolations; the ingenious food hierarchy and its cultural consanguinity. What if the magic is temporary and makes the human mind groan in its imperfections? If taking a pill is an end one’s disenchantments, is it not necessary to expound on its ramifications, and how it violates the power to gorge, resulting in a coup d’état.   

The author takes the courage to look at the bridge, standing at the end. He sees the walled symmetry with people eating natural foods with no preservatives, and where satiety surpasses over indulgence. The book miraculously looks at these drugs and their imperturbable role in making the doom look like a Mayfair ride. So, what are these pills? Are they an impulsive or a punctilious theory put into action; an ambition to erode people with diabetes and obesity of their propensity to naturally heal or create a market where food turns out to be an ‘unpleasant bargain’?

‘Magic Pill’ is revelatory, no doubt! The re-creation of hormone GLP-1 (Semaglutide) for type 2 diabetes and contemporaneously for weight-loss has become proprietorial for many. What it does? It leads to excessive weight loss for the obese and maximizes insulin production for the diabetic. That’s the propulsion!

Now, the disquiet and the demur may snuggle in if the medicine turns out to be a dead duck or an enfilade of side effects ruins the probable. 

Is it a life-saver? YES

Is it a life-sustainer? YES

Is it loyal to life? NO

Pancreatitis, Thyroid Cancer, depression and suicidal tendencies, albeit diminutive, can be deleterious for people on Ozempic. The author assiduously takes an example of ‘JAPAN” where obesity is negligible, and reminds us that it’s the food habits that play a pivotal role to define our vulnerabilities to most of the diseases. Eating food should be like a ‘reward’, nevertheless, if the ‘reward encampment’ is shut in the brain, the ‘gut’ would be a desultory displeasure.

In our journey of the bridge, the steadiness of life is determined. Amidst the uproar and unaccountability, we all will reach the end; some in haste and some in coherence with the large and small bits, all in contemplation to make the body a sustainable haven. So, why not choose a path where its end partakes the privileges the nature has provided us.

TAKE AWAY

Deeply informative & introspective!

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