What do you think?
Rate this book
Love, Honor & Negotiate: Making Your Marriage Work
Outlines ways in which couples can effectively renegotiate their marriage contracts, providing case examples of partners who improved their relationships and identifying the stressors that contribute to marital imbalances.
- GenresRelationships
352 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1996
2 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 25, 2020
Fantastic! A lot to learn from this book.
January 31, 2011
I read a lot of self help books, but I haven't read a lot of self help books on how to make one's marriage work. The authors are Betty Carter, who has been a therapist for decades, and Joan Peters, who made it readable.
One of the points driven home by this book is that people get their blueprint as to what kind of a husband or wife to be based on their parents. This seems obvious, but when you really get your head around the idea, it's revelatory. Men find themselves emulating their fathers, whether their fathers wanted to or not, and women decide (or are told) what kind of a wife to be based on how their mothers reacted.
The book is fifteen years old, and it does feel a bit dated at parts. Carter bases a lot of her idea on normal couples on boomer couples, and compares them to her own marriage. She has stories from her clinical practice of couples who came to her for counselling, and the men, to me, feel like old men. They act like old men. Is it because men have changed more in the past ten or twenty years than women have? Women are still trying to be supermoms, but I think younger men aren't as threatened by the idea of being co-parents as the example men in this book are. It's odd to me to have her speculate as to what kind of parents the Gen Xers are going to be, when so many Millenials are procreating already.
Carter has a distinctively feminist slant. One gets the impression, after reading this book, that the only couplings that aren't doomed to a non-stop struggle and likely failure are lesbian couples. A position she states and reiterates firmly and repeatedly is that women absolutely must retain autonomy in a marriage, and that whoever has the gold makes the rules. That is, a woman who lets herself become financially dependent on a man is setting herself and her marriage up for failure. I'm not sure about that. It would be wonderful if everyone got flex time and part time and Swedish-style family planning, but the fact is that "traditional" marriage is traditional because, for all the flaws, they work at some level.
It's an interesting book because it talks a lot about important issues that we tend to ignore, like power and dominance and the detrimental effect they have on what should be a democratic relationship. It's a depressing book because while it delves into the myriad problems that mixed-gender couples have, it doesn't discuss how great it can all be when everything works. Also, while it started out swiftly, in the end she lapsed into a lecture on her ideas for how society must change, which I didn't enjoy.
It's a useful book for any married person or single person who might get married, but because of its slants, it shouldn't be the only book you read.
One of the points driven home by this book is that people get their blueprint as to what kind of a husband or wife to be based on their parents. This seems obvious, but when you really get your head around the idea, it's revelatory. Men find themselves emulating their fathers, whether their fathers wanted to or not, and women decide (or are told) what kind of a wife to be based on how their mothers reacted.
The book is fifteen years old, and it does feel a bit dated at parts. Carter bases a lot of her idea on normal couples on boomer couples, and compares them to her own marriage. She has stories from her clinical practice of couples who came to her for counselling, and the men, to me, feel like old men. They act like old men. Is it because men have changed more in the past ten or twenty years than women have? Women are still trying to be supermoms, but I think younger men aren't as threatened by the idea of being co-parents as the example men in this book are. It's odd to me to have her speculate as to what kind of parents the Gen Xers are going to be, when so many Millenials are procreating already.
Carter has a distinctively feminist slant. One gets the impression, after reading this book, that the only couplings that aren't doomed to a non-stop struggle and likely failure are lesbian couples. A position she states and reiterates firmly and repeatedly is that women absolutely must retain autonomy in a marriage, and that whoever has the gold makes the rules. That is, a woman who lets herself become financially dependent on a man is setting herself and her marriage up for failure. I'm not sure about that. It would be wonderful if everyone got flex time and part time and Swedish-style family planning, but the fact is that "traditional" marriage is traditional because, for all the flaws, they work at some level.
It's an interesting book because it talks a lot about important issues that we tend to ignore, like power and dominance and the detrimental effect they have on what should be a democratic relationship. It's a depressing book because while it delves into the myriad problems that mixed-gender couples have, it doesn't discuss how great it can all be when everything works. Also, while it started out swiftly, in the end she lapsed into a lecture on her ideas for how society must change, which I didn't enjoy.
It's a useful book for any married person or single person who might get married, but because of its slants, it shouldn't be the only book you read.
July 21, 2012
Excellent, though a bit theoretical at times for my needs right now. (I was hoping for more "These tactics are what I've seen work; try them!). Nonetheless, very insightful; I recommend it to anyone contemplating marriage, separation, divorce, or remarriage.
July 22, 2009
Too much focus on economic differences in marriage. Some good tips on shared parenting but felt preachy.
December 21, 2009
The author has some good points; worth reading.
January 15, 2012
A book about negotiating and renegotiating your marriage contract - how things change over time, how you can change with the changing times, and traps to avoid.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews