goodreads | The Surrendered Wife - Laura Doyle (Reply)

Title: The Surrendered Wife
Author: Laura Doyle
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: 8/10
# pages: 257
Date read: March, 2008

Summary: According to Doyle, the wife who chooses to surrender must learn to take care of herself first, overcome the desire to have more power, and abandon the myth of equality. Delving into the personal tales and sisterly advice shared within each chapter's pages, surrendering wives will further note the need to master unsavory phrases like "I can't," and "Whatever you think"--tough to swallow for a generation of women who value their own opinions. While she fully acknowledges that a few bills will go unpaid and a few deadlines or freeway exits will occasionally be missed, she also insists that surrendered wives will encounter less worry and fear, more money, and better sex. Hey, "Whatever you think...."

Review: Like Laura Schlessinger's "The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands" (don't read it - it's not worth your time or money), this is a book of how to stop trying to control your husband and act like you were his mother, and how to start treating him with the respect and love that he deserves. However, unlike that book, Laura Doyle actually cares for her sex, and the book describes how to get an intimate marriage, without loosing yourself in the process. While there naturally were areas where I disagreed with Laura Doyle, I generally thought her advice very sound, and will do my best to put some of her theories into practise.

A comment on the translation: I read the book in Danish, and unfortunately it was the worst translation I've yet to see. Bad (stiltet) language, spelling mistakes and grammar mistakes all over the place, as well as misplaced spaces, line breaks and missing words. Obviously that's not Laura Doyle's fault, but I was amazed at how a book could be published with that many mistakes.

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