Customer Reviews

All About Us

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

I learned about this book as a result of my enjoyment of Mr. Keel's book, All About Me. I wasn't quite sure what the focus of a book called All About Us would be, but I was interested in finding out. I am glad that I was curious, because this book took me towards new and improved thoughts about my wife and our relationship.

Before reading further, let me emphasize a few things. This is not a book about romance, nor a guide to improve your relationship (see Relationship Rescue for that). You are encouraged to pursue this book's questions in a spirit of adventure and fun. If the idea of answering questions from a book is not your idea of adventure and fun, this book is not for you. So most people who will read and enjoy this book are ones in a good or excellent relationship who want to deepen and widen it some.

One final word of caution. There are a lot of questions in here about your sexual experiences with other people (before and during your relationship), your fantasies, and your sexual regrets. If those are not comfortable areas for a discussion, I suggest that you either skip the book or mutually agree to pass on those areas.

Another way to pursue the book (if your partner or you isn't comfortable with a discussion) is to do it privately, without sharing your answers. That makes the book experience much more like All About Me.

You should also feel free to make up your own questions. You will probably think of some that make this experience fit your relationship even better. This is a chance for all of you romantic couples to come up with lots of romantic questions.

As I went through the book (by myself, for reviewing purposes -- I plan to start it this weekend with my wife), I had a very good time. I enjoyed remembering the early days of our relationship, and the high points since then. I was thrilled to realize that I could answer some of the trivia questions that I would not have known about before we were married. That made me feel closer to her. I especially liked the questions about what I liked best about her. I know she'll enjoy hearing me say what they are.

Hmmm. Now that I think about it, this would be a good book to take along on a weekend to a country inn during leaf peeping season in New England without the children. Your selection of where you read it will also affect your pleasure from the mutual discoveries.

In almost all of the parts of the book, each person has a chance to answer independently. Although the book doesn't say anything about discussing each other's answers, I suspect that those discussions will be the best part of the experience. You could even try guessing what your partner will answer, and that could double the fun!

Basically, I suggest that you use the material here as a jumping off point for adventure and fun rather than taking the whole thing too literally.

After you are done, think about how you would like you and your partner to answer these questions 10 years from now. Then imagine what will have to happen in the next 10 years for your relationship to evolve in that happy direction.

I bought this book to try and open up some lines of communication with my long-term boyfriend who tends to freeze up when talking about serious matters or practices "selective hearing" when we talk about our problems. I thought that maybe if it was WRITTEN DOWN he couldn't misconstrue anything. Well, I was right.

At the end of the first section of this book it asks both you and your partner if you are willing to accept what this book reveals. If either of you would answer no, don't go through with it. My boyfriend and I got through about nine pages before he said he had to take a break, and we hadn't even gotten to the really serious questions yet.

I think that this book asks questions you wouldn't normally ask or have a hard time talking about. They are straight forward and while some of them are just fun, many are very serious and potentially hurtful answers could result from them. Just be prepared. I would definetly recommend it.

Wow. Does this writer smoke crack for writing inspiration? The other reviews of this book that also have one star really summarize it: this book may completely destroy your relationship, but will add absolutely nothing to it. Why would a question about your most satisfying breakup be in a book about the love of your life? Not something to dwell on. You stay in this relationship out of habit? You stay in this relationship because you are afraid again? Stay together because of economic dependence? All questions from this book GUARANTEED to cause lingering resentment and heartache, or double your money back.

This book asks you to both answer whether or not an affair could refresh your relationship. Answering this question wrong could give a guy all the heartache of having an affair without any of the fun...much like the rest of this awful book.

"Did you ever take advantage of your partner while they were asleep?" Seriously?

We're sitting here pulling these out at random. It disguises itself as a cute book to put out so guests or your parents could read it and go "awww"

"you have drawn blood in a fight with an ex?" This isn't a relevant or topical thing to discuss in a current relationship; it's a legally incriminating statement that can be used against you in a court of law.

I think the most damning part of this book was touched on in an earlier review: "Have you committed an indiscretion on vacation or business trip that you have never revealed to your partner?" Is this the format to reveal said indiscretion? Almost worth it for the lols, but ultimately you're better off trying to squeeze laughs out of ACTUALLY committing an infidelity. Don't buy, ever. Warn everyone you know.

I bought this book with the hopes that my husband and I could mail it back and forth during his deployment to Iraq in order to stay connected. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem this book is for people who have been faithful to each other or who are deeply in love. There are questions such as "list three qualities you wish your partner had" and "Have you committed an indiscretion on vacation or business trip that you have never revealed to your partner?"

Far too many "check one box" answers, which don't allow for expressing individual feelings or sharing memories.

This book seems like it's more for couples with unresolved issues, or ones that are trying to save their marriage.

Definitely not for the happily-in-love--you'll find a lot of it doesn't apply.

This book helped me & my husband get a better understanding of each other and made us laugh out loud together (because of some of the goofy humorous answers we came up with!)! We did this book 3 years ago together, and then it was put away somewhere. I hadn't seen it since then, when last week I suddenly found it. Intrigued, I pulled it out and shared it with my husband. We had the best night laughing and going, "Oh that's so true still!" It brought us closer than we had been in awhile. I thik it made us stop to focus on our love and relationship & let go of all the daily 'garbage' that everyone stresses over. I would recommend this book to ANY couple!

So I was looking for a cute fill in the blank book for my significant other and I to do together as a momento of our relationship that we could keep and fill in progressively as something sweet and cute. Well...this book should be called...All About why we should break up. Most of the book seems to focus on what happened before we were together or strange questions about abusing each other or if we've cheated on each other. Yep-I'm going to mark the Yes box and tell him that way? Stupid. In a book about US (or so I thought) I don't need him writing his best sexual experience with someone else. I don't even want to think about that. And plenty of thought provoking questions about things we think are more important than each other. I suggest buying several of these books either to make a nice fire with or because you will need them to throw at each other for the fight that ensues over the nonsense in this book. I have yet to find something similar in another book that doesn't suck completely. Very disappointed. This left me without a gift to give and just annoyance. Ugh.

My boyfriend and I are getting more serious and I bought this book because I thought it would be nice to look back on, and leave out on a coffee table. DO NOT leave this book out. Hide it. There is a section titled "before us", I suggest skipping it, who cares anyway? I really like going over this book, It really gets the two of us talking, and yelling, and getting over whatever we got upset about. The funniest question was "does your pet mean more to you than your partner sometimes". Buy this book if you are seriously in love, dont bother otherwise, it will fill you with reasons to break up.

I ordered several of this type of book at one time, and I'll be sending this one, and its companion "All About Me" back.

First, the book does not lend itself physically to writing. It is a hard back, narrow-spined book, with semi-GLOSSY pages. Some pens would smear on such paper (I'm not trying, 'cause I'm sending it back), and the book won't stay open unless you REALLY bend it backwards on itself.

Second, some of the questions are great and introspective and would stimulate fun conversation; however, there's hardly enough room for many answers. Although it's not likely one book is going to please everyone, some questions just seemed ... well, stupid. "Your partner is too hairy" check yes/no box. "James Bond movies are sexy" check box. etc.

Finally, like another reviewer, I feel like I'm doing a lame on-line survey or magazine quiz when reading this book. Checking boxes, in my opinion, is appropriate in trivial topics. So either I wouldn't want them at all (because I don't need the trivial stuff), or they shouldn't be used for both trivial and serious topics in this book.

This book is a great way to get to know your partner. The only issue is that it delves into topics that some couples may not be able to handle. It is best for relatively strong relationships. If you are already on the rocks this book might just be a fight waiting to happen.

I had a good experience with it. A friend of mine broke up with her boyfriend of 3 years after doing this book with her.

I ordered this book with the intention of making a weekly ritual with my boyfriend where we could sit down, fill out the book together, and reflect on some good memories. I read through the preview provided, and thought that it seemed perfect for us and would incite a lot of laughter. But when I got the book and glanced through it... there really are some sections I could do without. Going through past relationships in great detail is not something that I want to bring up again with my boyfriend, and this book definitely asks you to delve into these previous times. If you don't feel comfortable letting everything loose and don't care to hear about your partner's sex life pre-you, don't buy this book.