At its heart, Shame Wears My Name is a literary exploration of the silent suffering and the internalized grief that rarely manifests in public voicing or mental breakdowns; instead it hides behind triggers,pauses, mundane moments, hesitations, and self-silencing. The narrative focuses on the trauma that lives perpetually inside one’s mind, resorting to hide and seek with the person, just as they attempt to understand, heal and recover.
Book Details | Shame Wears |
Author | Anurag Mishra |
Book Name | Shame Wears |
Paperback | 200 pages |
Gener | Fiction |
Book Link | Shame Wears |
The story follows a young man whose life is shaped not by his own choices, rather by the choices made by those who came before him and the inherited burdens passed down through the family. His struggles are not visible, because it is not defined by seen tragedies, but by a persistent, low-frequency ache — the kind of psychological weight that goes unnoticed by the outside world yet deeply corrodes from within.
Key Psychological & Thematic Elements
Generational Guilt and Trauma
Shame Wears My Name explores how guilt, emotional avoidance, and shame are transmitted — consciously and unconsciously — across family lines. In a quietly powerful narrative move, the author reveals how the young man, unaware of his own inherited weight, carries the emotional and psychological burdens his ancestors never had the chance to release. It’s a haunting exploration of generational trauma—subtle, yet deeply affecting.
Identity Formation in Volatile Circumstances
The narrative uncovers how personal identity is shaped (and often constricted) by deeply ingrained societal expectations. Societal norms shape one’s everyday lives, so much so that people begin to lose themselves and their individuality whilst following the tide of society.
The Psychology of Emotional Invisibility
Examines how unacknowledged hurt and trauma can contribute to enhancing one’s feeling of loneliness,isolation, self-doubt, and persistent low mood. The narrative is deeply rooted in the Indian context, thereby providing a commentary on the mental health landscape of the nation and the attitudes of the community towards it. Grounded in India, the book will serve as a relatable guide in portraying how one traverses through the arduous journey of mental healing.
Resilience as a Quiet Rebellion
This book presents a realistic picture of the coping mechanisms that people adopt in the face of unprecedented and unacceptable levels of distress— from compartmentalization to small acts of defiance — that allow individuals to survive continuous inner conflict in their day to day lives.
Invisible Emotional Labor
The book does a great job portraying how exhausting it can be to play the roles society expects,to keep up appearances, and to deal with all the unspoken rules we’re supposed to follow.
It offers a sharp commentary on the emotional cost of conformity that includes performing roles, sustaining appearances, and silently abiding by unwritten societal norms.
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About The Author
Parallel to his business career, Anurag Mishra has deepened his engagement with human behavior and mental health, reading widely in the genres of psychology as well as reflecting on lived cultural realities.
Through his blog Barbell Bonds, he explores the psychological undercurrents of Indian life — from generational trauma and climate-linked mental fatigue to the quiet emotional labor in families and workplaces. His writing blends observational humor with research-driven insight, inviting readers to see their own internal narratives with more clarity and compassion.
His debut novel, Shame Wears My Name (Aug 2025), transforms these explorations into fiction — narrating a tale of identity, inherited shame, and the unspoken struggles people that are forced to carry around in silence. It’s a work that crosses the intersection of literary storytelling and psychological truth, capturing not just events, but the mental and emotional truth and landscapes behind them.
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