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Marry Him: The Case For Settling For Mr. Good Enough (2010)

by Lori Gottlieb(Favorite Author)

3.22 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0525951512 (ISBN13: 9780525951513)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Dutton Adult

review 1: Let me start with two disclaimers. 1) For all the women who are out there, happy and single by choice, huzzah! I believe that people can have a vocation to the single life. So in NO WAY do I feel sorry for single women. 2) I chose this book after browsing randomly through my library's Media On Demand collection while adding myself to several wait lists for books I want to read. I actually "settled for Mr. Good Enough" in my early twenties, so I am totally NOT the target audience for this book.Now that I've gotten that out of the way, this book made me profoundly sad (and sometimes frustrated and mad) when I read it. The number of women who seem to be holding out for Mr. Right is amazing...no, strike that. They're waiting for Mr. PERFECT. As demonstrated by many sad tales e... morencapsulated in this book, Mr. Right was there, oftentimes acknowledged as someone who was wonderful, (an "8" on a scale of 1 to 10) BUT these women eventually dumped him in pursuit of a fantasy. Just couldn't stand the thought of not holding out for the "10". Of course, no man is perfect (and neither is any woman- something that many of these women seem to have conveniently overlooked). The sort of naive, or, if you're feeling less charitable, self-centered worldview of these women just bummed me out on multiple levels. Relationships are hard work. They involve give-and-take. They involve a common purpose, rather than shared interests. They involve two people! Two flawed people - not just one that is meant to fulfill the needs, wants, hopes and desires of the other! These points seem so elementary and yet, they obviously escaped the women in this book. I wonder how the author ultimately fared in her journey. After realizing that she had passed up so many good men because of her fear of settling, she also realized that as a 40-something single mother with very specific criteria for a life partner, she herself was no longer quite the perfect catch for some tall, dark and handsome bachelor. It seems like she ultimately figured out that settling isn't really settling at all - I hope she gets a happy ending (although my desire to reach into the pages and slap her was overwhelming at times!) This book also gave me plenty of interesting fodder to discuss with my husband, who, in light of what I read, now seems to be *more* than good enough. I should also mention, I thought the author's honesty and willingness to share her story, and her pursuit of relationship experts of all stripes, was admirable.
review 2: Super-easy, entertaining read that is a modern-day cautionary fable to young women not to squander their prime years of attractiveness by being so picky about men fulfilling romantic fantasies that they pass up opportunities to marry a good, decent, but less sexy man with whom they can build a life....otherwise they might end up like Gottlieb: still single and never married, in her 40s, with only balding, divorced dads as potential mates. less

Download links for: Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough

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