Customer Reviews

Love Stinks: The Romantic's Guide to Breaking Up Without Breaking Down

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As painful and pathetic as a break-up situation can be, the experience also has some strangely poignant -- and funny - moments. Joy Overbeck is a first-hand witness to this and lends her insight to others who may be sinking into the depths of despair over the loss of a loved one (lusted one?). Written ostensibly for women, the book has a message for everyone - even men such as myself. From the first line, Overbeck sets the tone of serio-comedy, describing how the world will end, "not by fire or ice." No, instead, she maintains, the end of the world will look exactly like your lover walking away from you for good, for, presumably, greener pastures - none of which will ever involve you. Then she raises the question: what will you, the reader, do now. Sulk, of course, is the answer. Through humor and insight, however, Overbeck picks up the forlorn by the seat of their pants and points them toward the tiny dot of light at the end of the dark, bleak horizon. "The Romantic's Guide to Break Up Without Breaking Down" makes a beeline through these murky waters, alerting the reader to the dangers of re-entering the gene pool like a safari guide amid packs of wild, feeding animals. Eventually, she has the broken-hearted smiling, then laughing at the silliness of it all. Hey people, there's hope. A little irony here: I actually discovered this book on accident, while working at a newspaper several years ago, in the midst of a particularly painful breakup (are there any other kinds?) As I walked through the newsroom late one night at the end of my sportswriting shift, I found Joy's book on the desk of the writer who was reviewing it. I liked the title - so I stole it. Fortunately, the karma never came back to me (neither, incidentally, did the girl who dumped me). But thanks in part to "The Romantic's Guide to Breaking Up Without Breaking Down," I managed to see that it was her loss anyway, and she is probably regretting what a huge mistake she made. Well, maybe...

Everybody's had their heart stomped on at one time or another, but there is a way to look beyond the immediate pain and suffering and it's with wildly funny wit. Joy Overbeck's hilarious and practical ways of getting back up and into the game are astonishingly right on. Buy a copy for every woman you know.

This is a must read if you feel like crud after a breakup, can't sleep, can't leave the phone, can't stop thinking about it, etc but are afraid of driving your friends crazy listening to it or afraid they will have you committed to the nuthouse. Read this and half-way through the book you WILL start to feel better - at least enough to get out of bed.

It's 2010 and despite the fact this book was written 20 years ago, the facts are still relevant today. I went through a rather painful divorce from my children's father, and at the tender age of thirty, I thought my life was ruined. Feeling doomed to ever again having a life worth living, my dreams of "the happy family living in the beautiful country home" were lost forever. I went through the same stages of grief, as the author so poignantly describes, only she did it with such humor, I found myself laughing out loud at the very same scenarios that once caused me to wail out loud. Although break-ups are still a common tragedy, they can produce rather comic side effects. Joy Overbeck uses her wit and sarcasm to help the most pathetic of love losses get up, get over, and get back on their feet again to join the world of the living. Most of us eventually find out that although our lives will never be the same, time heals the broken heart and life does become worth living again. Read this book for some funny and "joyful" advice.

I got this book for my son's ex-girlfriend who was having trouble getting over him, even though he reassured her that he was just too young to be getting so serious, and it had nothing to do with her. (He is 17 and she is 16). Well, I threw the book in the trash rather than give it to her! This book is horrid! It assumes that the guy is ALWAYS a jerk, and if he isn't, then it teaches that the only way to get over him is to pretend he IS a jerk! Rather than provide some genuine guidance, it resorts to tacky visualization of putting the ex into a blender. So that's Joy's recommendation - a modern form of voodoo?

The book is completely negative. It offers nothing to help the girl get stronger, but only offers ways to convince herself that the guy was a jerk. There are enough real jerks out there without making the nice ones into jerks. And, whether the guy really is a jerk or not, focusing on the negative is not the solution; getting tangible advice on how to become positive and move on with her life would be much more helpful. This book offers none of that; it's just male bashing. Women in pain over a breakup deserve better than this garbage!