Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
An unlikely bromance between two reformed playas becomes the source of an in-depth look at the ways of philandering men. Few took greater advantage of their celebrity than the authors of this provocative, often controversial self-help book focusing on modern relationships between the sexes. Not too long ago, Run-D.M.C. founder Rev. Run (Words of Wisdom, 2006, etc.) and singer/actor Gibson (How to Get Out of Your Own Way, 2011) were the kind of guys fathers were advised to warn their daughters about. Today, both men have daughters of their own and therefore have the best incentive of all to help women everywhere understand how their boyfriends and husbands think and why they cheat. However, although the authors are united in their objective, they differ, often hilariously so, on numerous issues. For instance, Gibson contends that men will cheat for a variety of paper-thin reasons that seem justifiable in their own minds. Run, on the other hand, blames the unfaithfulness of male partners on an overabundance of temptation. Interestingly, both seem to indicate that some men are basically unable to control themselves. Gibson comes to his particular insights through intense retrospection. Run, meanwhile, relies on Judeo-Christian Scriptures. He is so wary of possible temptation that he refuses to ever be alone in a room with a woman who is not his wife. While explaining the motivations of the cheating male mind, the authors take great pains to explain that they are not condoning unfaithfulness, just helping women understand why certain things might be happening in their relationships. Despite their earnestness, the authors will no doubt be accused of unconscious chauvinism. Many men, in turn, will be unhappy that the authors spend so much time telling women how to spot and catch an unfaithful spouse or boyfriend. Entertaining and enlightening for suspicious minds.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Publishers Weekly
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Presumably written straight-faced with the stated goal of helping women better understand the men in their lives, actor/model/musician Gibson (How to Get Out of Your Own Way) and former rapper Rev Run (Take Back Your Family) team up to offer alternating and in some cases opposing insights into the hows and whys of the less-fair sex. But the Socratic dialogues this is not. Gibson blurts out bewilderingly shallow excuses for cheating (to wit: "it's not the worst thing in the world.... It's much worse to have to nurse your spouse through a serious sickness"), advises women to wait a good six months before sharing emotions with a partner, cautions them to be wary of overly religious suitors-preachers in particular ("[T]hey could read 'Humpty Dumpty' to you and make it sound like the greatest novel ever")-and offers plenty more absurd advice tempered with generous helpings of ego. If that isn't enough to deter women from mastering manology, the incessant suffixing of "MAN-"to perfectly serviceable words (e.g., "MAN-tored" for, we assume, "mentored") should do the trick. Tyrese's tirades give Rev Run plenty of softballs to lob back as he closes each chapter with common sense and some reasonable recommendations, but it's not enough to save this disconcerting MAN-scapade. Agent: Jillian Manus, Manus & Associates Literary Agency. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.