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The Truth Behind the Rock: Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Engagements . . . Until Now
A no-holds-barred exploration of the real-world dynamics of getting engaged debunks popular misconceptions about romantic proposals to offer empowering insight through a series of anecdotes that reveal how most engagements are marked by such elements as ultimatums, commitment fears, and haphazard searches for engagement rings. 50,000 first printing.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published April 4, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 13, 2012
Meh. I ordered this on Paperbookswap after seeing the rave reviews on Amazon. I'm single so I picked this because I thought it was going to be a history book about engagements, not a suggestive how-to book. Let me just say that I've read The Rules, and I think it has some pretty sound advice. I wasn't too keen that this book began by bashing The Rules. Not a good look.
Buy this book if you want to feel as if your irrational behavior is somehow okay because "other people are also acting desperate, so that makes my embarrassing behavior acceptable! Let's all laugh about how we have to nag guys into submission. Hehehe, aren't we cute? I'm sure this is definitely the right foot to start a marriage off on!" If you think that you can somehow "change" a man's beliefs about marriage by cornering him, demanding that he propose, throwing things at him, causing a scene or acting like a fool, you'll probably like this book. I didn't. If a guy tells me he doesn't believe in marriage, I don't date him, and I don't try to change his mind. Why waste my time?
Frankly, it seems as if a lot of these women picked out duds beforehand. Common complaints the women in this book mentioned about their boyfriends were that he "sleeps until noon," "doesn't have a good job," "hangs out with his friends all night," "plays video games daily." Frankly, if you've been dating a man-boy for 5 years, and you're not married... are you really surprised?
Maybe if you want to have a baby with a guy, but you don't want to get married to him (which was mentioned in this book) this would be up your alley. It wasn't up mine.
I don't want to date for 4, 5, 6 years and then start nagging my boyfriend to propose. I disliked the suggestions about tearing out ring ads and putting them in his wallet, leaving magazines open to ring ads, telling him that you "love a good classic Tiffany setting" (What does that even mean?! Most women can't afford Tiffany to know anything about their settings.)
I found this book to be sad. I don't want to go to weddings only to be super jealous because after years of dating a man-boy, I still don't have a ring (the prevalent story throughout this book.)
The most annoying this about this book is the fact that men are called "thick headed," "moron," "slow." If you feel you're having to talk to somebody that you consider to be an imbecile, about how he's supposed to propose to you, you aren't with the right guy. Period.
Comment | Permalink
Buy this book if you want to feel as if your irrational behavior is somehow okay because "other people are also acting desperate, so that makes my embarrassing behavior acceptable! Let's all laugh about how we have to nag guys into submission. Hehehe, aren't we cute? I'm sure this is definitely the right foot to start a marriage off on!" If you think that you can somehow "change" a man's beliefs about marriage by cornering him, demanding that he propose, throwing things at him, causing a scene or acting like a fool, you'll probably like this book. I didn't. If a guy tells me he doesn't believe in marriage, I don't date him, and I don't try to change his mind. Why waste my time?
Frankly, it seems as if a lot of these women picked out duds beforehand. Common complaints the women in this book mentioned about their boyfriends were that he "sleeps until noon," "doesn't have a good job," "hangs out with his friends all night," "plays video games daily." Frankly, if you've been dating a man-boy for 5 years, and you're not married... are you really surprised?
Maybe if you want to have a baby with a guy, but you don't want to get married to him (which was mentioned in this book) this would be up your alley. It wasn't up mine.
I don't want to date for 4, 5, 6 years and then start nagging my boyfriend to propose. I disliked the suggestions about tearing out ring ads and putting them in his wallet, leaving magazines open to ring ads, telling him that you "love a good classic Tiffany setting" (What does that even mean?! Most women can't afford Tiffany to know anything about their settings.)
I found this book to be sad. I don't want to go to weddings only to be super jealous because after years of dating a man-boy, I still don't have a ring (the prevalent story throughout this book.)
The most annoying this about this book is the fact that men are called "thick headed," "moron," "slow." If you feel you're having to talk to somebody that you consider to be an imbecile, about how he's supposed to propose to you, you aren't with the right guy. Period.
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April 24, 2011
IMHO, a "rock" is not a marriage. It's neither the apparatus nor an excuse for two separate individuals to stay together.
I can't recommended this book.
I can't recommended this book.
December 9, 2011
I do not like self-help books. But if ever I do receive some as presents, or if somebody lends me one without me asking for it, I have no choice but to finish reading it because I'm polite and I'm a completist like that. :P Anyway, I found this book easier to read than Committed (Shudder... ). It has the usual he said, she said stuff about the rock. Loved the trivia on diamonds. For instance, did you know that Chris Robinson proposed to Kate Hudson with a 5+carat diamond ring? And that Elvis Presley proposed to Priscilla Wagner with a 3+carat diamond ring? Craaaazy...
October 11, 2012
not what I was expecting. thought this would be more about stories of why ppl got engaged/unengaged but instead it was about how to get your slacker bf to propose. stopped reading at page 47.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews