About the Book

Being Single Can Feel Frustrating… Try a Change of Perspective!

There can be many complex emotions tied up in the idea of being single. Societal pressures, self-esteem, loneliness, a sense of where you fit in the world…it can seem overwhelming or even depressing. Singlehood is a refreshing look at what it means to be single. Follow Lisa as she learns valuable lessons about herself, and challenges long-held misconceptions that hold many people back. Do you look for a potential partner with a laundry list of must-haves, ignoring your own dysfunctions? Are you more focused on what someone can give to you, rather than on what you will bring to a partnership? Are you locked into the idea that people who don’t have children aren’t fulfilling their calling in life? And do you believe that as a single person, you aren’t who you are supposed to be. Properly benefiting from singlehood can be the most powerful tool in transitioning to a successful marriage. Let Singlehood open your eyes to a new way of thinking, and learn along with Lisa how to enjoy being single, and how to learn the skills that will let you take charge of the experience of singlehood, turning it into a time for growth and blossoming, rather than bitterness and frustration

Review

Singlehood is not a particularly well-realized book. It comes across as some sort of cheap pseudo-seminar that was clearly chosen to help regurgitate the author's ideas about being Single. I think there is some intelligence in choosing this seminar structure, as it shows how futile looking for answers as to why relationships fail again and again, but at the same time Lisa, the woman at the seminar, comes across as very genuine in her search for help at this discussion.

This book is particularly dull in diction, word choice and flow becomes clunky and distracting throughout. The use of slides to get concepts and ideas for self-help across is particularly dire, as the story moves along so quickly that the reader doesn't get any sort of in-depth analysis at what the book clearly considers to be useful and insightful information.

This book focuses on a Christian perspective to Singlehood, which certainly could be useful to readers, but as it points out in text that Christianity is inherently against Singles, as marriage is a massive part of living a full life connected to God, readers are not given any sort of alternative, really, as to how being Single can be truly be seen as a full life. There's a pervasive sense of shame throughout this book when it comes to being unmarried, which, as that idea is mainstream in Christian thought already, makes the reader really wonder if this book is truly just reinforcing stale ideas and social expectations.

We're given Lisa's tragic backstory involving past romances and it is truly sad to see her so caught up in finding answers from outside sources rather than finding peace within herself. If this is what the book was about, it would do its job in giving some enlightenment to a (sometimes) difficult situation, and perhaps readers would come away with a heavier sense of peace in their hearts, but it does no such thing.

This book does have some sections that foster peace and seeming understanding of God's purpose but that does not particularly hit home very well. Readers get all of these slides of Biblical passages with hardly any interpretation to have any sort of realizing moment.

If you're willing to accept anything in a Christian context this book may actually be very good for you. Otherwise, watch some TED talks or something, because this book largely lacks any sort of factual evidence of anything it is saying.

Reviewed by Amy Richardson