6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Maybe Marriage Isn't for Everyone, July 24, 2006
This review is from: Sex & the Married Girl: From Clicking to Climaxing---the Complete Truth About Modern Marriage (Hardcover)
Mandi Norwood is an angry woman. Through the lens of resolute feminism, Norwood presents a venomously skewed scenario of modern marriage and relationships. Blatantly anti-establishment, she balks at traditions such as taking one's husband's name, nurturing and caring for one's family, and taking on the responsibility of creating a healthy home environment. Her tone is perpetually pissed off--a shock to those of us who are happy in our relationships, engagements, or marriages. Perhaps Norwood should have titled her book "The Complete Guide to My Pessimistic Outlook on Modern Marriage."
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Why Bother?, April 27, 2006
This review is from: Sex & the Married Girl: From Clicking to Climaxing---the Complete Truth About Modern Marriage (Hardcover)
First off, this book is not about sex, it's about marriage, so don't waste your money if you're looking for sex tips. In any case, Mandi Norwood utterly disapproves of sex advice for women (but more on that later).
The purpose of this book is to teach new-millennium wives how to act like 1950's husbands - only I truly doubt if 1950's husbands were quite as selfish, thoughtless and utterly inconsiderate as this book suggests wives should be.
Offered a job on the other side of the world? Don't discuss it with your husband, just go home and tell him you're taking it regardless of what he thinks. He can either come with you or get lost. Feel like taking a year off to travel the world (using your joint savings to do it?). Don't ask him how he feels about the impact on your finances or how it might affect your future plans. Just give him a list of places you're going. Invite him along, sure, but don't make out you give a damn either way. And let him know that your destinations of choice are non-negotiable. If he has places he wants to go `you can talk about that'. Feel like having an affair? Go for it. Society says this is OK for husbands (apparently - though that's news to me) so it's OK for wives too.
I think when most people get married they have at least some intention of making the other person happy. But to Mandi Norwood this is not only irrelevant but wrong. Redbook magazine had the temerity to publish tips for women on how to be terrific in bed. How dare they! Who cares whether your husband enjoys your sex life? The only important thing is that you do. (Quite a risky position to take when three weeks without sex is portrayed by one of Norwood's friends as grounds for divorce.)
Showing you care for your husband, or showing him any kind of loyalty, is portrayed as hopelessly outdated. If his brother's wife is leaving him, get on the phone and give her advice on how to get the best divorce settlement. And always remember, his mother is the enemy. (Actually all women over 45 are utterly contemptible sell-outs according to Mandi).
The start of the book is full of women expressing their reservations about marriage and why they were reluctant to do it. It's never explained, anywhere, why they did, or why anyone would. The unbearably self-satisfied Norwood (who throughout the book seems to think all women are just like her) says:
"My life plan was pretty much this: junior writer, features editor, global travel, buy own home, become an editor in chief, get married and have kids. I was prepared to take or leave the final two."
I bet her husband was thrilled to read that. But it would be REALLY interesting to know why someone as independently minded as Norwood ultimately decided to get hitched. It's never explained. Why, Ms Norwood, do independent women still get married in this day and age? What's the attraction? Particularly for you and your friends - after all, if you believe all you should care about is yourself, why make a commitment to another person? If it's total self-centred independence you want, why not stay single? That could have made an interesting chapter or two but somehow it just doesn't occur to Norwood to address it.
The book finishes with a discussion of the `death fantasy' where modern married women apparently daydream about what it would be like if their husbands were dead. Sure, they'd be upset, (kind of) but in a lot of ways, it's actually quite a nice thought, isn't it girls? That pretty much sums up the book.
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