Pluses and Minuses
This book has some good aspects and others I don't like. I like how it's set up as a 10-week process for you to better understand what boundaries are and how to set them in different types of relationships. I like how the author uses storytelling to help illustrate points. Some issues? Even though this is set up as a 10-week process, there's no section at the end of each chapter for specific work you should do regarding what was discussed in that chapter. Even Chapter 1 could have a few simple exercise ideas you could do to better understand what, say, brought you to the book and what you're hoping to gain or your thoughts on the chapters definitions. Further chapters certainly could use specific exercises to help you work through the information and apply it to your life. I don't like how this book is part of a series called Facing and Overcoming Codependency, as I don't necessarily see boundary setting as a codependency issue. It can be, but not everyone who struggles with setting boundaries or having them respected is codependent, nor is a relationship necessarily codependent if there are boundary issues. The book goes over several types of relationships and setting boundaries within them, like friendship and romantic relationships. I thought they also should have included a work relationship chapter. This could have been done easily and still maintain the 10-week structure, as the last couple of weeks (anger, unleashed emotion, and self-care) didn't feel as focused on boundary setting as the previous ones. Finally, at times, the writing in the book didn’t sound right in my inner ear; it needed better copyediting or proofreading.
2.5 stars
I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.