Living Successfully with Screwed-Up People by Elizabeth B. Brown

 

Living Successfully with Screwed-Up People by Elizabeth B. Brown

Revell

Published in 1999. Republished in 2010.

ISBN 9780800732882

244 Pages

PLACES TO BUY FROM:

Amazon (Paperback)
Barnes & Noble (Paperback)

BOUGHT THE BOOK AS A GIFT, BUT READ BEFORE GIVING AWAY.
BOUGHT THE BOOK THROUGH AMAZON.COM.

Review/Rating:

5 out of 5



Elizabeth B. Brown attempts to help you deal with people who you might considered "Screwed-Up" in your relationships. She uses sayings, personal experiences and stories, and insights from her own life and others to show you how to deal with people who have made your life a living hell.

All right, I'll tell you what I thought about the book. This book, like almost all non-fiction "how to fix your life books", starts out with convincing you why you should read their book in order to help you live better lives. And it also starts answering the question of how you can live someone you considered "screwed-up" without severing a relationship by mentioning common things she sees in her grief conferences --- and even mentions something about her daughter. Out of the three non-fiction help books I got, this one is the one that got me more pumped up/anxious about what kind of advice the author is going to give you just by reading the introduction part. Another thing I like about the introduction is that when she mentions her daughter's disease, she calls it a "challenge", instead of calling it a burden or a handicap --- like what most people call others who have diseases, including mentally/physically challenged people. So, right off the bat, I agree with most of her views and how I should view things in life. ^^ The only thing I wasn't too sure of is when she said to consider the "screwed-up" person as a challenge, not a burden. ^^;

Throughout the book, the author has nice little sayings and comparisons --- most of them made me giggle and think how most of them match real life almost perfectly. However, some of the things mentioned in the books are things you kind of know already, but you don't really acknowledge since your emotions run wild whenever you deal with someone you care about and can't think straight or acknowledge common sense. It kind of reminded me of someone, a friend on the Internet, who said to me, "I don't know why they call it common sense, especially when it isn't really that common." That is kind of true when you think about it. :D Even some of the things mentioned in the book made me think about my personality and how it interacts with everyone else's. The author even points out how the person who you think is screwed-up might think you are the one who's screwed-up because you are different from them --- like the reason, most likely, you think that person is screwed-up. So, it might even help the screwed-up person, if you give the book to them --- maybe, slight chance of it.

Basically, I think this book has good advice, especially if you want to keep up the relationship with the person. That is, if you listen and remember the advice in the book. ^^; It also helps and encourages you to live your own life --- by your own morals. ;) The only thing I didn't like about the book is how the author kept on putting the screwed-up person as a woman/girl, even though it might be accurate that most of them are women. *COUGHS*

Oh, the medical category is added because it mentions how ailing relationships can make you ill, which was really interesting in my opinion. :) Another thing, there isn't that much God or prayer thing mentioned, but it does have a chapter about faith --- which mentions God and how too much or too little faith might actually be bad for you. I also liked this part. A very good read, I just have to remember some of these things. :D

Out of the three books I got, I found this one and When to Speak Up and When to Shut Up to be the most helpful and insightful. If this is how all the help books this publisher publishes are, I think I will order all the help books I need from them. :X

I recommended this book for anyone and everyone since it give you good things to think about.

Other Reviews/Author Site:

Elizabeth B. Brown
Goodreads: Living Successfully with Screwed-Up People by Elizabeth Brown
Library Thing: Living Successfully with Screwed-Up People by Elizabeth Brown
My Inner Muse: Do you live with screwed up people...?