Reviews for AskMen.com Presents the Guy's Guide to Romance: The 11 Rules for Finding a Woman and Making Her Happy

The average rating for AskMen.com Presents the Guy's Guide to Romance: The 11 Rules for Finding a Woman and Making Her Happy based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2016-11-19 00:00:00 Kenneth Freivokh This is a collection of letters written by birth mothers in So. Korea who chose an adoption plan for their newborn babies. The letters were written within the context of the cultural norms in So. Korea in the 1990's. Unwed mothers were social outcasts, as were their children. Each letter, written to the newborn infant expresses the mother's love for her baby, sadness, longing and also hope for her baby's future. These letters have special meaning to me because I am the adoptive mom of a child, now an adult, who was born in So. Korea. Reading the letters was quite emotional for me. While the letters are very specific for these Korean born children, I think that the feelings expressed by the birth mothers are probably timeless, common, and worth reading by anyone who has an interest in the adoption process. It is also worthwhile reading for family and friends of birth mothers and adoptive families. I rate this book 5 stars

Review # 2 was written on 2017-02-11 00:00:00 Lucas Chaparron According to contextual information provided within the book, Ae Ran Won is a Christian organization that provides support for unwed mothers in South Korea. Most mothers who go to Ae Ran Won choose to have their babies be adopted, and asking the women to write a letter to their child is part of the organization's programming. This book was compiled from some of those letters and was published and sold to support Ae Ran Won's operations. Upon first encountering this book, I was quite wary. The messy politics of transnational adoption and Christian adoption organizations in South Korea left me unsure how to approach it. In terms of capturing the experience of unwed Korean mothers, this book is limited to the women who went to Ae Ran Won for support (ie, mostly Christian). I was also quite aware that this book was translated into English and provided to the public by people involved in or who support Ae Ran Won's operations. I imagine their expected readership consists mainly of white families involved in transnational adoption. Despite all the biases and lenses that separate these women's experiences from my own experience of reading their translated words, their individual voices pierce through the distance like a knife. These women express their wishes and sorrows in by turns tender, regretful, and hopeful words. Their letters are an intimate window into the complicated emotions of young women at their most vulnerable. No, these letters do not express the full experience of being an unwed Korean mother. Few publications can do so. But they do provide the briefest of windows into the lives of thirty-six mothers expressing what they can to children they will likely never see again, and that's probably the closest I'll ever get. I wasn't really sure what to do with myself when I finished this book. I'm still reeling. I've only met these women through letters written for other people, yet I find myself struggling to find closure with the experience of reading this book. How do I proceed forward? The only thing I can do is listen, remember, and share my experience of reading their letters with others. I think I will always carry their words within me.