One of the pleasures pains of my new site, Diet of Bookworms(Update: the site is no longer active), is that it is really only useful if it has reviews of the more popular Christian titles. One of the new books I am about to begin reading is Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman’s Soul written by John and Stasi Eldredge.
I suspect this book may become one of Eldredge’s most popular, and it may even outsell his previous titles. Why, you ask? I am sure you would find that at least half of the men who read Wild at Heart did so with the “encouragement” of their wives. I know of many men who were given this book by wives, mothers or girlfriends. And now these women have a book targetted directly at them. Surely they will buy this book in record numbers.
Here is a review from Publishers Review:
John Eldredge became the Robert Bly of evangelicalism with his blockbuster Wild at Heart. Now he teams up with his wife, Stasi, to encourage women to connect with their deepest desires. To facilitate this, the Eldredges reveal in the first chapter what every woman’s three core desires are: to be romanced, to play a role in her own adventures and to display beauty. (This formula will be familiar to Eldredge’s fans, as Wild at Heart offered a similar tripartite model of men’s desires.) The rest of the book is an extended reflection on these three impulses. Drawing heavily on popular films to prove their points, the Eldredges warn that most women tend to become either controlling or needy. Godly women, in contrast, should see God as the ultimate lover, and look to Eve (and not, say, J. Lo) as their model. Also, women should form close, intimate friendships with one another, à la Ruth and Naomi or the ladies in Fried Green Tomatoes. These are all unoriginal themes, which evangelical women’s writers have been recycling for years. Christian readers who embrace a robust egalitarianism will not find the Eldredges’ perspective congenial. Regardless, the book is likely to fly off the shelves, purchased by all those women who gave Wild at Heart to their husbands, brothers and dads.
Before I dive into the book I thought I would begin a small contest. It is simple and based on one of the most frequent criticisms of Eldredge’s work – his reliance on movies. All you need to do is send me your best guess as to the number of movies the authors refer to within Captivating. By this I mean the total number of movies they reference, not the total number of references to movies. You can either use the feedback form or email your entries to [email protected]. I will count the movies and report back at the end. Whoever is closest to the real number will win a book from my prize-stash. If there are multiple winners, I will select one at random. If you already have the book, please do not count the movies and enter the contest.
The contest begins now and closes when I finish the last word of the book…
