Rachel Greenwald

Interesting feedback from mostly men regarding dating; what they liked and why they didn't continue dating a woman they were attracted to and maybe even liked. Some of the reasons given could have been corrected with communication, but the men never did this. Some of the things that men didn't like were quirks that someone else may find cute. Some men were just jerks, but this was a minority.

There's also a chapter on the women's reasons they didn't continue dating men. Reasons like hygiene, too eager, cheap, and not a gentleman, just to name a few.

Some of the reasons men didn't call for second dates were: too bossy, not what they portrayed, not feminine, (anyone seeing a theme here?), not intriguing, just to name a few.

It's a really quick read and shows where the communication break down is and as an average whole, what each gender is wanting in the opposite sex.… (mehr)

I keep this book on a shelf by the bath. Every so often it gets steam cleaned. This does not, however, have any effect on me, or indeed anyone else who uses the bathroom, as we cannot steam-clean this book's existence from our brains.

Let me say this, first of all: the title is not a euphemism or a witty allusion. It is a book about getting a husband before you're thirty, weight loss, online dating, gross self-effacement and all. Fancy taking an evening class? Take one where the men are! You can take one that interests you next year after you're married! (Sadly, a verbatim quote.) Is your date a nice, attractive, attentive guy? Then don't sleep with him, he'll think you're a whore! The dating scene isn't working out? Then don't send Christmas cards this year, send Find Me A Man cards!

...and so on, page after excruciating (and unintentionally hilarious) page. The author seems to think her having graduated from Harvard Business School gives her an insight that no one else has - which is, of course, the ability to write candy-striped books full of jargon and sell them by the truckload to neurotic and self-deluding women. For every sensible thing she has to say - say, for example, asking your friends to set you up with nice people they know? - there's a corresponding grotesquerie, such as her "exit interview" strategy, that is ringing up all your exes and asking them to discuss your wobbly bits. Add this to the fact the British edition of the book has clearly come about from a simple search-and-replace on the American edition - dear editor, St George's Day and Martin Luther King Day are not functionally equivalent, though sending Find Me A Man cards to mark either occasion is perhaps equally bizarre - and you're left with a book that makes long winter baths very entertaining, if a little headache-inducing. Enjoy this book, but try not to pay money for it.

(And in the interests of full disclosure: I am a woman, twenty-two years old, and in a relationship with a very nice man who finds the fact I own this book more hilarious than concerning, a fact for which I am profoundly grateful.)… (mehr)