Customer Reviews

Take Back Your Marriage: Sticking Together in a World That Pulls Us Apart

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I am a graduate student, this book was an assignment that required me to design a marriage enrichments program. So I approached this book with a very critical eye, wanting to find all the pros and cons. With that being said, I loved this book. The author William J. Doherty does an excellent job addressing issues and attitudes in marriage in a way that I have never thought of. The concept of a consumer attitude is a profound idea, and better yet it makes sense. The book is well written (but on a level that anyone can read and understand), with great examples, and ideas to apply the concepts presented in this book. This is a book that everyone should read; it is not just for marriages that are struggling. I feel that I have a very healthy and happy marriage, yet this book has helped me improve a relationship that I thought did not need improvement. It can also help newly weds who are juts starting out on their journey together. Over all this is a great book that will help any marriage as much as the reader is willing to allow it.

Plenty of titles provide marital advice; but few so clearly outline the outside forces which tend to drive couples apart as William Doherty's Take Back Your Marriage, which tells how to stick together in a world which pulls people apart. Family therapist Doherty says today's divorces are the result of conflicting demands on time and money - troubles which can be overcome by determined couples. This tells how.

A wonderful exposé on the current trend of friends, marriage counselors, etc., encouraging those in marriages to leave "if you aren't getting your needs met." He skillfully shows that with a small change in both partners' (and sometines just one), many divorces could be avoided. He is careful to point out there are still cases that would require a divorce, such as abuse and repeated infidelity. But great hope is given that many can take back their relationships and enjoy each other.

If you`re either struggling to improove your marriage or experiencing a marital crisis of any kind; if you want to find tips on how to re-bond with your spouse or if you are about to get married or to make a commitment with someone, this book will absolutely help you find a PRACTICAL way to do so. It`s easy and enjoyable to read, it`s practical, non-preaching, but at the same time profound. William J. Doherty mainly focuses on commitment and how external forces might separate us and how to deal with them. Make yourself, your spouse and your kids (in case) a favor, get this book and find again your way to happiness (Doherty`s "The intentional Family", is a GREAT choice too).

In our culture that tells us that we should get what we want and get it right now, we often apply that principle to our marriages. This is why 50% of them end tragically in divorce! Doherty challenges the "consumerism" of our outlook on marriage, and what a challenge it is! This book, if you let it change your heart and mind, will reform your marriage!

I think the most important part of this book was the fundamental hopefulness about what might feel like a hopeless situation.

My marriage is in serious trouble and I have been reading and researching non-stop for months trying to find a solution. This is the very first thing I have read that gave me true insight into myself as a woman, wife, and mother and gave me practicle advice about how to start to mend my family. I have learned the hard way that therapists can damage a good relationship and destroy one that is in trouble. I am still so terrified about my situation that there is not another thing I am able to think about but at least now I have a game plan. I wish I could have William Doherty as my own marriage counselor.

I think that this book is very helpful in presenting the issues that pull marrriages apart. It is comforting to know that daily stresses and "drift" are a common component of every marriage, and that couples must do their best to "de-consumerize" their perception of marriage and focus on commitment. I thought the book also offered a candid appraisal that many marriage therapists are really not "committed" to making a marriage work, but fall into the "consumer" attitude in trying to make things work if that what the two spouses want. After an excellent job in laying out the issues that marriages face, I thought the book was a bit lean on offering solutions to the problems. Nonetheless, identifying the causes of issues is at least half the battle.

I received the book on Tuesday evening and finished it by Thursday...I couldn't stop reading all the fantastic observations of Married behaviors. As a man ( & pursuer in my marriage) so many of the problems we're experiencing are explained here. I really believe in the prosperity of marriage. There's a true threat from influences who've recently divorced. Loved ones ( kids & extended family) can also come between us and diminish the quality time we've been missing. Thank you Dr Doherty for crafting such a common sense approach to working hard at our marriage!

This book is a giant gulp of fresh air. It's easy to read and understand without being simplistic; it's neither gimmicky nor condescending; and the advice and insights within it are sensible and do-able. So much of it rang true that I found myself wondering whether the author has been secretly hanging out at my house. He suggests that we, as a community, try to support each other's marriages, and I plan to start by referring my friends to this book.