Though I have to admit all the mythology drives me nuts, I really recommend this book to anybody, not just women. It saved my sanity during the leadup/wedding/aftermath. She does a great job explaining why the emotions for the engaged couple (and also for their families and loved ones) are so tempestuous and even scary. I felt I got a better understanding of why it's so difficult to plan a wedding (after all, it's just a party, right?) and it helped me healthily frame the wacko family response to my getting married. Best of all, when I found myself weeping like a madwoman over trifles, I understood why and I could forgive myself and not see it as a reason to call the whole thing off!
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Although I don't admire Hotchkiss's writing particularly (she has a bad habit of capitalizing the words that matter to her, like Self), this book has been really vital to me in the last year. My family exploded in the wake of a big lifecycle event, and I was reeling from the inexplicable fallout. An acquaintance suggested this book. I am rereading it again and made a special point of coming to this site to comment that, not to be too corny, this book has literally changed my life. If you have someone in your life who seems to have a strange lack of empathy, even if they are superfically generous, you might get a lot of use out of this book -- and if it's one of your parents, you really should take a look at it, because you probably came out of your childhood with a real lack of attention to your own needs, and you could be so much happier if you understood your family better. The book gives very specific techniques for dealing with narcissists in all walks of life. Very highly recommended.
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