Customer Reviews

7 Stages of Marriage: Laughter, Intimacy and Passion Today, Tomorrow, Forever

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This is an extraordinary book. The authors have done a fantastic job of synthesizing material from research and thought leaders in the marriage movement and put it into a readable, encouraging and hopeful textbook that is chock full of useful information and exercises for improving your marriage.

In addition to descriptions of the 7 stages, the book either gives you ways to maintain the good (as in the first stage of passion) or getting through the not-so-good phase (as in the second stage when you wake up and realize that your marriage is not all magic all the time). You can't rush though this book though, since there's so much helpful information on each page. Nice stories, too, of couples who were interviewed for the project.

I'd recommend this book to couples who are either getting married, are married, or are considering divorce. It should be read many times over.

The Seven Stages of Marriage is a book that could make a difference and should be shared. Shared with those:
* Planning Marriage
* Whose Marriage has Lost its Spark
* Planning to Remarry
* Facing an Empty Nest.
And Grandparents who want their children to have strong marriages.
I'm married over 27 years (Separated for 2) and the book has it all. And reference info to help anyone with any issue. I plan to buy copies for my kids, my brothers and sisters and staff.

This is a very powerful book for anyone contemplating marriage or thinking about the marriage in which they find themselves. It is a forthwright look at what marriage means, what is really going to happen the various stages in which marriages go through. To name just two, the wedded bliss of the first few months or hopefully years is wonderful. But it's quite different than the child rearing years are taking your (and her) time, money, emotions and more.

Note that this is not a book for those who have already decided on a divorce. If one party to the marriage has already decided it is over, well it takes two to make a marriage, only one to break it apart. As the book says, it is not a relationship repair book, it's a book that will instead tell you about relationships and how they change over time.

There's a neat quiz to tell you what stage your relationship is in. I've just got to mention the first question and one of it's four answers:

'If our rlationship were an object, it would be a:'

And answer d is:

'video game - push the button, a new battle starts.'

This book is not rocket science, but does put the stages of marriage back into perspective. It was a joy to read ad share with my spouse!

Easy read, filled with lots of useful information. Will recommend to to any married couple.

Whilst the idea of the book is enticing, the quality of writing is not so.
It is very cliched and stereotypical, bases statements, conclusions and ideas off of mainstream thinking, concepts and deeply westernized ideology of marriage and commitment and the life journey. It seems to be written by and for the older 40+ bunch.

The main ideas I gleaned from this book could have been summed up in a few pages. There was no reason to spin this out into the voluminous size it is, with speculation, personal anecdotes, wishy-washy commentary, a rose-tinted glasses and very pro-legalized-contractual view of marriage. The quiz to check what stage a couple is in, felt alienating, as we and our other couple friends agreed we really couldn't find ourselves in the quiz's.
This book doesn't seem to be written by people in touch with today's modern society.
It was like reading a book from my parents or grandparents era.
A very conservative, rigid view of marriage and life.