At 22, Leslie Morgan Steiner seemed to have it all: a Harvard diploma, a glamorous job at Seventeen magazine, a downtown New York City a... read full description
reviews
Mar 25, 2009
Meghan
rated it: 
I'm a bit torn about my review for this. Steiner's story is compelling. So compelling, in fact, that I read the book in about one sitting (way past my bedtime too!). I really wanted to see how she would escape the relationship and was also generally curious about her life's path. Yet, I didn't love the book or Steiner's writing, I only liked it.
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Apr 06, 2009
Mary Ann
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Anyone who has ever been in an abusive relationship should read this book. Then again, anyone who has ever wondered why women don't leave their abusers should read it.
Steiner is a good writer and shows vividly what it is like to be married to someone who is violent. I was into this story from the first page and read it in two days.
Steiner is a good writer and shows vividly what it is like to be married to someone who is violent. I was into this story from the first page and read it in two days.
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Mar 03, 2011
Kellee
rated it:
1. Crazy Love is a true story about Leslie (the writer) falling in love with, and marrying, an abusive man named Connor. Some major conflicts are; Connor did many abusive things to Leslie. He beat her, threatened her, and then acted like it never happened. He held a shot gun to her head and threatened to pull the trigger, he choked her, he punched her and kicked her, and threw things at her. The main characters would be Leslie, Connor, Leslie's friend Winnie, and Leslie's parents.
2. What m More...
2. What m More...
Aug 25, 2010
Liz
rated it:
I wish we could give half stars to books...I really felt like this was 2.5 but the subject matter (being in an abusive relationship) warrants the book a 4. My only complaint, besides the fact that sometimes I wanted to punch this woman for being so WASPy and growing up so upper middle class (and hasn't she been punched enough?) is that at the begining of the book, she talks about her husband and kids and how you wouldn't think a woman like that with this perfect life would be in an abusive relat
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May 04, 2010
Jan
rated it:
One woman's memoir of her relationship and subsequent marriage to an abusive man. While I did enjoy this book, I did have two problems with it:
1. Steiner maintains that she had a "normal" upbringing. It's as though she thinks because she's blonde, beautiful, intelligent, and went to Harvard, that should have precluded her from falling into an abusive relationship. However, within the first five pages of the book, it becomes blatantly obvious that she grew up in a VERY dysfu More...
1. Steiner maintains that she had a "normal" upbringing. It's as though she thinks because she's blonde, beautiful, intelligent, and went to Harvard, that should have precluded her from falling into an abusive relationship. However, within the first five pages of the book, it becomes blatantly obvious that she grew up in a VERY dysfu More...
Jan 03, 2010
Lynn
rated it: 
Leslie Morgan Steiner, a Harvard graduate with a coveted position at Seventeen magazine and a hip apartment in downtown New York City, seemed to have it all. She had already achieved sobriety, after determining she did not want to follow in her mother’s alcoholic lifestyle. Her father distanced himself from the family by immersing himself in his career. In her early twenties, Leslie had youth and independence to encourage romance. The handsome and charming Conor showed up at the right time.
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Nov 01, 2009
Jeanette
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Crazy Love by Leslie Morgan Steiner was one of a few books about domestic violence that at times I had to put down and regain myself to continue. It is not a bad book at all. Leslie writes in a style that makes you feel as you are sitting right there next to her as she retells her tale of abuse at the hands of her husband. This is what made it hard at times to read because I had been in her shoes. I knew what she had gone through: I had felt the exact same way she had during my almost 5 years of
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Aug 09, 2009
Robin
rated it: 
The is a non fiction memoir of a woman surviving a physically abusive relationship. I will give her credit for writing a book that might open some eyes and maybe even help someone.
But...
The whole premise of this book is that if she...Harvard educated, well to do and blond (smacks of bigotry to me) can be abused then anyone can. Well there is one huge problem with that. The part that puts her right in there with the rest of the statistics. She comes from a very dysfunctional fam More...
But...
The whole premise of this book is that if she...Harvard educated, well to do and blond (smacks of bigotry to me) can be abused then anyone can. Well there is one huge problem with that. The part that puts her right in there with the rest of the statistics. She comes from a very dysfunctional fam More...
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Jul 19, 2009
Off article talking about abusive relationships, and why women may stay:
"For a firsthand account that makes these dynamics painfully clear, check out Leslie Morgan Steiner's Crazy Love (St. Martin's Press). Steiner, who writes for the Washington Post on issues of work/family balance, describes her four-year relationship with her violent first husband with harrowing immediacy. Unlike most battered women, Steiner came from privilege: her family was well-off; her father was a judge More...
"For a firsthand account that makes these dynamics painfully clear, check out Leslie Morgan Steiner's Crazy Love (St. Martin's Press). Steiner, who writes for the Washington Post on issues of work/family balance, describes her four-year relationship with her violent first husband with harrowing immediacy. Unlike most battered women, Steiner came from privilege: her family was well-off; her father was a judge More...
Jul 13, 2009
Ken
rated it:
Leslie Steiner tells the story of her brief courtship and marriage to a handsome, bright, charming, but very abusive husband. She narrates her experience in a direct, factual manner. Her narrative includes some of the internal dialogue and reasoning processes that went on in her mind as she gradually became more emotionally attached to her abusive fiancee and eventual husband.
Leslie did a reading and book signing at our local independent bookstore yesterday. She explained that it was no More...
Leslie did a reading and book signing at our local independent bookstore yesterday. She explained that it was no More...
Jul 08, 2011
O.k thier is no doubt this is a compelling story but I have to say even though I have been in an abusive relationship myself I find that I could not relate. Maybe because Steiner had an education and a good one at that and had opportunities most battered women dont have that I had a hard time really attaching myself to her. Dont get me wrong I think Steiner did a great job of depicting how her relationship with Conner evolved from a seemingly loving relationship to an abusive one. I sympathized
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Jun 17, 2009
Heather
rated it:
So this book........ it keeps you very interested. She's incredibly succinct. Almost too much so, where i found myself thinking, as the book went on, "what!??! Why didn't you mention THAT before!??!!?" My only caveat on this book is, though, if you've been in an emotionally or physically abusive relationship - it is hard to read because it takes you RIGHT back there. That was the only thing that I didn't care for - it left me with a lot of the same anxious feelings and desolate mo
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Jun 27, 2009
Michelle
rated it:
This is a tough book to rate. It was definitely a fast read and I was pulled right into the author's turmoil. As with any abusive relationship, it's easy for an outsider (and someone who's never been abused) to think, "how can she stay!? I don't get it!!" Of course I had those feelings, but what was weird for me was that she never seemed to like him all that much. She didn't even want to get married in the first place. I never got that "I can't live without him" feeling that
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Sep 06, 2011
Claire
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Steiner's memoir of an abusive marriage gets off to a stumbling start with too much minutiae (think: a detailed retelling of washing the dishes with her best friend)and not-very-interesting characters. She has a tendency to describe people in a way that leaves you wondering whether you're supposed to like them or not. It's rather telling though, that the writer doesn't seem to settle into her "voice" until after she meets the man who will become her husband and tormentor. The version I
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May 24, 2010
Heather
rated it:
Though the pacing of the story was awkward -- focusing too much on unimportant details while rushing through traumatic incidents -- the story itself is intriguing. Leslie reluctantly fell in love with a charming, handsome man whom she soon found she couldn't live without, no matter how much he pushed her away (mentally and physically). She quit a cherry job, left the city she loved and followed him to a rural town where he began abusing her on a regular basis. It wasn't until she found some free
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Apr 21, 2010
Jennifer
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This book really irritated me. I appreciate that the author wrote about her struggles being in a physically abusive relationship. I have never been (nor will ever be) in an abusive relationship plus I have never had terrible self-esteem issues so I read this as a case study of sorts. I cannot really comment on the abusive husband, Conor, since he is just despicable as can be assumed. Also, I thought it was bizarre that the author completely skewed the information about her parents in this bo
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Apr 10, 2010
Marie
rated it:
Leslie has a great life. She works for Seventeen magazine in glamorous New York. She graduate from Harvard and she seems to have a good head on her shoulders. More into the book you realize that her home life wasn't so great. Her mother is an alcoholic and her father is a workaholic. But Leslie herself made a good life for herself.
Then she meets Conor. She didn't seem to have much interest in him at first but decided to along with him (sounds so familiar). At first things are great, More...
Then she meets Conor. She didn't seem to have much interest in him at first but decided to along with him (sounds so familiar). At first things are great, More...
Dec 26, 2011
Heather
rated it:
I bought this book mainly because I personally find other people’s lives and stories fascinating. With that said, I did not really like it all that well. I thought that the husband was crazy (which is obvious when one is a wife beater) and I found myself routing for the woman to come to her senses and leave his sorry ass to which I am glad she did. However, I did not much care for this woman either! (I am no way condoning the violence towards her) but to me she sounded like the most self-a More...
Feb 07, 2011
Ashley
rated it:
This was a very good book, But I didn't like it. I knew I shouldn't have bought it but I needed something to read and it was only $2. It was a good story and it was well written but it was about one of the things I hate most: Abuse. This was a story about a woman who falls in love with her "Prince Charming". But the thing that made me really mad was that he started beating her before they got married, she still married him, and she stayed with him for 3 years. And it's a true story. I
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Jun 13, 2009
Sunny
rated it:
It is amazing that Harvard grad/successful magazine writer/MBA student would ever stay in an abusive relationship. Steiner's memoir explains why women of all socio-economic groups stay in physically abusive relationships with men. Unfortunately, I kept yelling "get out of there", long before she left her unhealthy marriage. It was a compulsive read (read in a few hours in which I couldn't put it down) and many of the details were surprising and horrifying. Like a bad accident, I could
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Jun 24, 2009
Debbie
rated it: 
I wish I could remember who recommended this book to me so that I never read their recommendations again. Unbelievable that it was written by a Harvard grad, since it reads more like an article in Seventeen magazine. The author actually wrote for Seventeen, before giving up her job to move to another state with a man who choked her during sex (while repeating the creepy words 'I own you') long before she married him, the most apparent red flag in a long string of warnings she chose to ignore. Gi
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Apr 23, 2009
Angie
rated it:
I am strongly recommending this book to anyone who: 1) is or ever was in an abusive relationship of any kind, 2) has ever cared about anyone who is or was in any kind of abusive relationship, and 3) thinks they might have something more to learn about those who were or are abused by someone they trusted. That ought to include most of you, whether you realize it or not. :)
It is a memoir and there is no need for colorful storytelling, it is spooky, scary, sobering, and serious. Sti More...
It is a memoir and there is no need for colorful storytelling, it is spooky, scary, sobering, and serious. Sti More...
Jan 14, 2012
Lady Journal
rated it:
**Lady Journal Review **
This was a great story , so real it is too. What woman in general really go threw in life. There is this part of another review of this book somewhere else that says : A memoir of love and violence.
If you and I met at one of our children's birthday parties, in the hallway at work, or at a neighbor's barbecue, you'd never guess my secret: that as a young woman I fell in love with and married a man who beat me More...
This was a great story , so real it is too. What woman in general really go threw in life. There is this part of another review of this book somewhere else that says : A memoir of love and violence.
If you and I met at one of our children's birthday parties, in the hallway at work, or at a neighbor's barbecue, you'd never guess my secret: that as a young woman I fell in love with and married a man who beat me More...
May 05, 2010
Carissa
rated it:
This is a memoir of an abusive relationship. I found the writing at times confusing, and the author's non-stop references to her wonderful job at Seventeen magazine obnoxious. I also found it surprising that Leslie felt she should be immune to domestic violence because she was blond, educated, and wealthy.
I did appreciate that she wanted to find out why men abuse women they love, and not just why women stay with abusers. I can tell you from watching the experience of friends and f More...
I did appreciate that she wanted to find out why men abuse women they love, and not just why women stay with abusers. I can tell you from watching the experience of friends and f More...
May 19, 2010
Juliette
rated it:
The author of this memoir comes from money. Her grandfather used to own a 27 room house in New York. She spent her summers in Vermont. She developed anorexia, drug addiction and alcohol addiction in high school, but got in to Harvard. She was offered a job as an editor at Seventeen magazine before she graduated from Harvard. She fed her dog chocolate everyday for three years, accidentally causing him to die of liver cancer from not knowing chocolate is toxic to dogs. Seriously? Who doesn't know
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Jan 06, 2011
Abbey
rated it:
A 22-year-old girl living in New York has a Harvard diploma, job as an editor of Seventeen Magazine, and a boyfriend that seemed too good to be true. But was it?
Leslie had fallen for the wrong man. He repeatedly beat her, pushing her down the stairs, hitting her several times a day and threatening her with a gun. Often, he came very close to killing her.
This true story of a common crisis will seize you, and take you into the humanity of abusive love. Conor has a background of abuse a More...
Leslie had fallen for the wrong man. He repeatedly beat her, pushing her down the stairs, hitting her several times a day and threatening her with a gun. Often, he came very close to killing her.
This true story of a common crisis will seize you, and take you into the humanity of abusive love. Conor has a background of abuse a More...
Oct 26, 2011
Eleanor
rated it:
This is a book all women should read ... about spousal abuse - It's well written, but the message is you can get out of a relationship of physical abuse - it urges caution, but it tells the story - it is a memoir - of a woman who does not fit the profile of one who you would think would be abused ... Men should read it as well, but I doubt they would ... Courage - Leslie had such courage - and such understanding can come from this book. I think to often we think - not me - not anybody I know -
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May 21, 2009
Michelle
rated it:
I'm torn between giving this one 3 or 4 stars. I'd give it four for the nature and subject matter the author writes about. It's shocking and scary to think this type of thing happens to the average person, who seemingly has it all. But I'd give it a 3 because it's a bit choppy. I felt like she could've written more about an experience instead of it just stopping and picking back up 6 months later. There is one paragraph at the very end of the book where she mentions the last time she and he
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May 06, 2009
Gail
rated it:
Well, I just finished reading this and I need to process it now. It was painful to read from start to finish, and yet I didn't put it down. Only when I finished the last page and looked at the back jacket blurb did I realize that I had read one of her other books, Mommy Wars.
She wrote this to help other people- that's why she told her story. In the end, she says that whenever she does a speaking engagement, even if it's not about abuse, she mentions her history briefly just in c More...
She wrote this to help other people- that's why she told her story. In the end, she says that whenever she does a speaking engagement, even if it's not about abuse, she mentions her history briefly just in c More...
Apr 08, 2009
Beth
rated it:
This autobiography reveals how a young woman was courted and wed to a
man who was abusive to her on many levels. It is pretty
straightforward in narrative and language; nothing outstanding. It was
a frustrating book for me to read, not because the writing was bad or
cliche or the topic was uncomfortable, but because she didn't make me
understand WHY she would stay with an abuser. I didn't get enough
motivation or even introspection. I can understand how this is a ve More...
man who was abusive to her on many levels. It is pretty
straightforward in narrative and language; nothing outstanding. It was
a frustrating book for me to read, not because the writing was bad or
cliche or the topic was uncomfortable, but because she didn't make me
understand WHY she would stay with an abuser. I didn't get enough
motivation or even introspection. I can understand how this is a ve More...
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