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Chicken Soup for the Couple’s Soul Book Review
I’ve never written a book review before so this is a new territory for me. Ok, scratch that, I’ve written book reviews but it was for school and they were known as book reports. Enough small talk, let’s go to the book!
First, if you’ve never read a Chicken Soup book before, it ‘s basically a collection of various short stories combined into one volume. The originals were just Chicken Soup for the Souls with no real theme behind them besides being “heart-warming” or “inspirational.” After the publishers saw the success of these original volumes, they released many more books, but this time with different themes. These themes would include Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul, or for the College Soul etc. The one in question today focuses on the couple’s soul.
One word about this book though, if you aren’t in some sort of meaningful or serious relationship, you’d be apt to read a few stories and throw the book down in disgust. You’d be disgusted about how you can’t believe these lovey-dovey stories or disgust that you can’t enjoy these stories more. I am ina serious relationship so I feel like I appreciate these stories more.
For the book itself, it’s an amazingly quick read. Since the stories are never more than a few pages long, you can breeze through many stories in one sitting. You can read however long you want, or however short you want. It’s good because if you set the book down for an extended period, you don’t risk losing track of characters or plots since every story is self-contained.
The book is seperated into 8 chapters, each one dealing with a specific aspect of Couples. There are chapters called, “Overcoming Obstacles” which sees couples overcoming certain events to be a loving couple. Some Obstacles are major (like death) and some seem simple (like a Mayonaisse). Another chapter is Finding True Love which are stories of how two people came together and the unbelievable events that led them there.
One positive about this book is the balance of stories. There were a lot of cutesy funny stories and some serious stories. The cutesy ones either made you laugh or grin in ways that you don’t believe the things some people do, while the serious ones kind of bring you down, like a loved one dying or getting cancer. With such a difference in story content, the publishers carefully ordered the stories and succeeded very well. I never felt that the stories got too depressing or too stupid. It was a near perfect balance.
Another strong point about the book is that the stories stick with you. I read the book almost a month ago (I know, and I’m writing the review now) and I can still remember dozens of the stories. Since they are only a few pages long each, you’ll breeze through them, but they leave their mark.
One weakness, and I touched upon this before, is that I don’t believe this book is for everyone. Certainly married couples should read this book. I think they’d enjoy it and maybe even help a relationship. But people who aren’t in relationships will either make them desperate to get into one, or hope never to get into one. I think the time you read affects you different ways. As a young kid, I see things these old people did and hope I can do the same. I think when I’m 50 and if I re-read this book, I’ll have a totally different perspective on it. Anyway, that’s the only major weakness in my opinion.
As for a recommendation, if you have a significant other, I’d suggest reading the book together and discussing the stories with each other. It’ll be fun!
*** out of ****
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