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croscot's review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
3.75
I really enjoyed the chapters on definitions of love, honesty, communication, the connection (or lack thereof) between love and abuse, parenting and receiving love in one's childhood, and how patriarchy is detrimental to building a caring and loving society. However, I disagreed with the heavy implication that love inevitably leads to spirituality, or that spirituality is a prerequisite to love. I think that both can coexist, and many religions are indeed built on preaching love for thy neighbour. But, realistically, preaching and practising are two different things. Personally, I see religious love as something conditional and exclusive, like a contract that guarantees your expulsion and isolation in case you breach it. And that's not love at all.
abookdoctor's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
natbee's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
3.0
Some things will stay with me, but other observations were... a little bit off... interesting ideas, but very focused on genders.
luckyagain's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
iasiello's review against another edition
3.5
Nothing ground breaking. Her wording is laden with therapy-speak and often lacks sentiment. Found myself wondering what the takeaway was, especially with the random New Age Spirituality stuff at the end. I felt suspicious of a lot of real-world examples she used to connect her theories to reality. I was expecting it to be based more on academic research than personal experience. I was particularly annoyed early on with the cynicism she showed towards young people and their ability to love. Her takes on Monica Lewinsky and Missy Elliot were pretentious at best. There were some great points throughout the book but I found it uninteresting overall. I attribute the popularity of this book to its ability to articulate the way that people already feel about love. I can see this being a revolutionary read 20 years ago.
ruqqiya's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
2.0
Probably would’ve loved it if I had read it 15 years ago. Also too much Christianity
alisarifredi's review against another edition
4.5
Wish I would’ve read this in my early twenties. Really valuable information but not a ton that was new to me. The Monica Lewinsky commentary was awfully unfair but overall the topics hold up.