Lang geleden hadden de Marsbewoners en de Venusbewoonsters gelukkige relaties, gebaseerd op wederzijds respect voor de verschillen die er tussen hen bestonden. Toen kwamen ze naar Aarde, en vergaten dat ze van verschillende planeten afkomstig waren..., Aan de hand van deze pakkende metafoor onthult John Grav een unieke, praktische manier waarop mannen en vrouwen hun relatie-kunnen verbeteren: door te begrijpen en te respecteren wat ze niet gemeen hebben.Dr. John Gray is psycholoog en gezins- en relatietherapeut.

Well, you can't say I didn't try to get through this book. I began reading it when I was newly engaged. But after the initial three chapters, the book began to feel repetitive and I just kept it aside. I tried to pick it up twice more but simply couldn't. It is finally the audio version of this book that helped me complete it. And now that I am done with it, I am just a little wiser and none the merrier. Of course, I must confess that I am notoriously bad with self-help books. I hardly ever pick them up, and most of the few I do begin, end up as DNFs. So the fact that I did manage to complete this book must be held as a point in favour of the book. (Or you could put it down to my determination to finally get rid of it.)

The book might have been revolutionary when it was first published in 1992. But in 2021, it just seems sexist, stereotypical and outdated. There are some plus points, especially in terms of understanding why men go silent or why they constantly give advice, and how to have better communication in a relationship. Some of the advice is really practical and will be helpful for new couples. Plus, there is a lot of humour, thankfully, as this helps salvage the book to a great extent.

Unfortunately, the negatives outweighed the positives for me. There is a great amount of generalisation about the nature of the sexes. Nothing gets my goat as the statement "Women find shopping therapeutic." Another flaw of the book is that it is repetitive. The same 3-4 points are stated and restated and re-re-stated ad nauseum. (Point of advice: If you want to know what the book is about? Just read the first 3 chapters. The rest are rehashed versions of the same three ideas.)

The biggest flaw of the book? Let's not forget that the author is a man. So most of the advice tends to favour men. (Yes, I'm a woman. But sorry, I don't care if a man likes "would" better than "could". Common sense should help him understand what the meaning behind the question is rather than complaining about grammar. If a woman would have done this, she would have been called a nit-picker.)

A hit and miss read for me. But I'm glad I finally completed it. One book reduced from my physical TBR. This goes to the recycle bin now.


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I'm definitely reading this again.
Great insights and wisdom about relationships. ( )

Human beings are not that simple. This reminded me of when people read about their star signs, and go like "Wow! This is so true!" - it's only true because you expect it to be, and then you act on it.
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Good advice on relationships considering the differences between men and women. ( )