Angry Marriage: Overcoming the Rage, Reclaiming the Love

This Book is the best I've read on helping heal a troubled marriage. I only wish I could have a session or two with the author! I think every married couple I know should read it. Great!

This edition is actually a re-issue of a previous printing of the same book (with the same title), ISBN 1562828061. You can find customer reviews searching for that ISBN.

First, as a rebuttal to shechem, I wouldn't recommend this book to an engaged couple or an angry person because this book is really for married couples who exist with this constant undercurrent of anger. Just because you have a temper doesn't mean you will have an angry marriage. Yes, the author does take a long time to make her point but it is a point well made: that we are all products of how we were raised and that that shapes our actions and attitudes. This is not a blame your parents book because if it were, I would not have read it. It simply states that our parents are our first role models for marriage. We take from them roles and responses to our own marriages. I found that the most enlightening aspect of the book was reading each couple's childhood background, which I'm sure, helped bring understanding to each of the marriages. Often, we don't know what bags our spouse is coming out of and get frustrated that he/she isn't more like ourselves.After reading the profiles of each type of angry marriage (which, to me took too long because you kind of got the picture in the 3rd or so chapter) the basic message I got is to begin to reclaim that goodwill toward your spouse that sustains you through boredom, disappontment, conflict and tragedy; that if you don't have good feelings toward your spouse, you simply will not make it. With ill will, everything a spouse does is framed negatively.Keep in mind that this is a modern day book, an extended version of advice that might be given in the "Can This Marriage Be Saved?" or in Redbook. No new revelations, but for a marriage that is on the wrong track, this just may help push it back.

This is truly a must for any person committed to a long-term relationship, not just one that's presently "troubled" by anger and resentment. I would prescribe this book prophylactically! Of course, it is also a self help reference book in the best sense of the term. I was impressed by how skillfully Dr. Maslin's case vignettes are being put to work to illustrate the various patterns of marital discord, and to show the potential for a healthier solution. Dr. Maslin is a highly experienced psychologist who wrote this book for all people who want to become serious (again) about a marriage and continue to build it. Once you've read it thoroughly (once, or more than once), you will want to make this book a quick reference (if your best friend hasn't borrowed it!).