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Title: Female Intelligence
ISBN: 0312261594
Author:
Jane Heller
Publicate Date: 2001-04-21
Publish: 2001-04-21
List Price: $24.95
Average Customer Rating: 3.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $0.44
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.01
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1: Makes me ashamed to be a woman
Aside from the odd Harlequin romance, this is quite possible the most sexist and poorly written book ever. The character is a "linguist" who is working to make men think like women. She employs such nauseating tactics as sharing Michael Bolton music and making the men recite dialog. The point when I decided that the book was beyond terrible was the line of dialog that her male lead was forced to read (a situtation before a business meeting when there was a female employee in the room) "Good morning Susan. I don't know how you metabolize your desserts, but the chocolate mousse cake I had last night went straight to my thighs." Ewww. And the "dead on and hilarious" quote on the front of the book was misleading. There were some lame attempts at wittiness, but they fell as flat as the story line.
I've never written a review on this website, and I read voraciously. This book made me feel an obligation to share my opinion in hopes that someone else reads it and saves the four hours that I will never get back. In fact, I apologize to Harlequin writers, they are Pullitzer nominees compared to Miss Heller.
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2: Loved It !!!
I really enjoyed this book. It is a light read and very entertaining. I loved how it showed up the self-improvement field through Lynn Wyman trying to teach men how to speak to, and maybe even understand, women through her training program. I found it really funny it was highlighted that the men mainly became interested to participate in the program to better their ambitious careers - not to actually understand women (typical !).
I loved the character types she chose to illustrate her points. Particularly as you start to realise Lynn communicates and basically thinks like a man !
Her friends characters also portray very different types of personalities with definite idosyncracies and when you put it all together it makes a good story. I also loved the ending in that Lynn also changed her own views & program, plus it gave a window into Lynn & Brandon's relationship some years down the track showing a successful relationship post the 'honeymoon period' through the importance of good communication.
If you're looking for a laugh and an easy read I would really recommend this book.
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3: Didn't love it
I didn't care for this Jane Heller book. I found the dialogue stilted and the plot a parody - just not based enough in reality for my taste. And I would never want a guy who went through the Wyman Method - yuck!
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4: Alot better than I thought from reading the reviews
When I first started reading "Female Intelligence", I had a tremendous urge to review this book immediately and explain all the pitfalls of the "Wyman Method". Luckily for me, Jane Heller did it all herself.
This book for me was an all-nighter. I simply couldn't put it down. Look, humor is relative. People have different life experiences, therefore people find different things funny. Now, I know many people who have read "Mars and Venus" books and feel that they were really, really helpful to them in their relationships. I have read alot of these books, and while there are many good points, I feel that alot of it is formula - and, so, if my husband says "How was YOUR day" instead of "How was your day! Goodbye" I'm suddenly going to be happy? He didn't mean it then, and he still doesn't mean it now. So what does it help if he learned to be a parrot? So you can see why I found "Female Intelligence" so hilarious.
I really enjoyed the h/h as well. They were a really funny couple - you know, the kind where they're so opposite that everything about them is funny?
And, no, I didn't "know" who gave away Lynn's secrets to the media. I am thankful that I have good friends, it never occured to me that a good friend could really do that.
For those who took this book seriously - it was a spoof! A spoof with a message, if you will. I think it did have a message somewhere in all that laughter. I especially loved the part where he analyzes what went wrong with her parent's marriage - and he's right! That part was really funny.
And I don't think she could have possibly have meant it seriously (the author), when she had Lynn (the character) saying "Oh, I don't know how you metabolize mousse, but that mousse last night went straight to my thighs!" Can you imagine a man actually saying that? I don't think Jane Heller was really that stupid that she thought a therapist would actually say that, she just thought of some outrageous things a therapist MIGHT say, and then doubled and quadrupled it, till we have a very funny method, and a funny book. This was NOT a how-to book on the Wymann method, it was a comedy! The Wymann method was NOT meant to be taken seriously! I don't think everyone got that.
I really enjoyed this book, and it was a pleasure to read the dialogue where you have two very intelligent people having a conversation, rather than what is the case in some other books where the characters either talk AT each other, or both crack a bunch of one-liners. To be quite honest, I found all that intelligent conversation a little intimidating - I don't have those kind of conversations, it's easy to see that Jane Heller's IQ is quite a few points above mine. But while mine is not quite there alas, it's fun to watch a real first class brain at work.
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5: Predictible and boring
This book is neither funny nor good reading. An intelligent female can see right through this predictible plot and not-so mysterious mystery. The premise is that someone has done Dr. Lynn Wyman, an intelligent female, wrong. I found it totally unbelievable that this character would not immediately suspect one of her close friends as her saboteur. And by the time in the book she figured out it was one of them, I was so disgusted with the weak plot, that I just didn't care to find out which friend it was. I took this book on a trip, and found myself reading the catalogs on the plane instead. If you are an intelligent person, don't bother with this one.
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