The State of Critical Thinking on Amazon.com
By Jane Zane

The Surrendered Wife
By Laura Doyle
Fireside, January 2001

 

 

 

 

The Surrendered Single: A Practical Guide to Attracting and Marrying the Man Who's Right for You
By Laura Doyle
Fireside, May 2002

 

 

 

 

Although we normally review fiction in this column (okay, except for that Jewel poetry review a while back), we felt as though we could make an exception for these two fall down, pee-in-your-pants books. Written by Laura Doyle, a completely credential-free housewife from Texas, The Surrendered Wife made a big splash when it was released in January 2001. Its nutty content was shrewdly marketed by Fireside, and Doyle, who looks like Miss Piggy in a blonde fright wig, was invited on radio and talk shows, and actually garnered reviews (albeit mostly negative) in respectable publications. Her latest, The Surrendered Single, doesn’t seem to have caused as much of a stir, and has garnered only five reader reviews on Amazon.com. Those below are from The Surrendered Wife.

 

(Note: All reviews sic.)

I'm free! or at least on the way
Reviewer: A reader from New York, NY
Surrendered Wife has freed me in my relationship with my husband (note, I did not say "freed us"!). Before, I didn't really see some of my habits as negative. But God used Mrs. Doyle's words to convict me. The book also reminded me that worrying about my husband's ways of doing things only causes me grief…

For those of you who found the book unhelpful, seek God's will for your life. He will guide your path in preparing you for your eternal role in His kingdom. This book was definitely a step in the right direction for me.


It really works…
Reviewer: Jamie O'Gorman from Chilmark, MA USA
Laura's book is easy to read, her arguments make perfect sense and best of all - her program really works! I have read commentary about this book by "feminists" who are outraged at Laura's ideas. I feel that her suggestions (ie: trusting your husband to guide your life together) come from a loving place. And I believe that they increase, rather than diminish the power of true womanhood. When I read those reviews, I always wonder if the women writing them have happy, healthy, balanced marriages (if they are in fact even married).


Can you imagine Ginger Rogers trying to lead Fred Asteire?
Reviewer: teigis from Michigan
This is an excelent book, being christian, having a 10 year marriage and being a Mars Venus facilitator, I can tell you that if you apply the concepts in this book you will be one happy, very happy woman.

The idea is that the more you want to control (your man/your marriage/the finances, etc) the more stressed, overwhelmed and lonely you end. It teaches you to let your husband do what Fred Asteire did with Ginger Rogers: he led her through the dance floor…Let him be in charge and enjoy.

You see, women feel loved when they are cared for. Men feel loved when they are trusted. So if you surrender (and by this the author doesn't mean let him abuse) he will lovingly take care of you and he will feel trusted and loved.


Surrendering Equals Power, July 17, 2001
Reviewer: A reader from Glendale, Ca USA
After applying the principles in this book I've been rewarded with a husband that cherishes me like a princess, caters to my needs, and strives to please me in every way...now that he's motivated to do so. He no longer views me as his wife/mother and I'm free from the burden of "mothering" him. To all those feminists who criticize this book, I ask you: WHO DOES IT SOUND LIKE HAS THE POWER NOW??


bitter authors, May 16, 2001
Reviewer: kimberly from Brandon Fl
I think maybe all the authors who have negative comments about this book especially Ms Lassiter, are bitter, worn out, overworked and underappreciated divorced or very single women, who's marriages are probably right in the very pit with the rest of american marriages. This book does not say that we have do bow down and let our husbands walk all over us and it does not say to be submissive, what it does say is to be respectful to your spouse and to remember that it's not always what you say, or how you say, but what actions you say it with… My husband and I have been married for 9 years we have lived together for 12 and i'm only 28…So if you think that you and your marriage are perfect, then why are you even bothering to look up the book. Quit looking and leave us with not so perfect marriages and who are women enough to admit it, alone.


Christian marriage, April 24, 2001
Reviewer: A reader from Roseville, CA USA
If you wonder why this book is an amazon.com mover and shaker, it is because its principles are sound, Biblical and the consistent with instructions from the Lord. When we are open to and respect the differences betewen husbands and wives, we will be awed by the foresight God had in creating a union such as this; a critical principle to making God's plan for marriage work. Critics will say this book exploits and demeans the intellect and conscience will of women--yet this narrow and short-sighted. This is not only about a wife 'surrendering' to her husband, but a husband surrendering to the needs of a wife. In 2Peter 3 God's word states that husbands and wives should submit to each other, serve each other and put the other first. Who can argue with the Lord?