Staying Close: Stopping the Natural Drift Toward Isolation in Marriage

It's just not a good book. The deepest "insights" in the book are when it quotes other people. They then regurgitate the quote into less-effective communication immediately afterwards.The structure of almost every chapter is as follows:1) Anecdote to illustrate a point.2) make obvious point, usually already made by obvious chapter titles.3) one sentence that actually communicates, then saying the same thing 3-7 more times before moving on to the next point.There are no metaphors left in the wild. These two hunted them down and beat all of them to death, took their pelts and had them stuffed and put in their trophy room.Also, there's a weird chapter basically saying "you're selfish if you don't reproduce as often as you can because we need more christians and your wife's uterus is God's little minion factory.To be fair, they do say "im not saying you should have tons of kids... I'm just saying you're selfish if you don't."So to that end, I offer "I'm not saying you should skip this book... i'm just saying you'll also want to add a lighter to your cart as well so it's easier to send this book up in flames so it can't hurt anyone else."

I read this book the first time before I got married about 20 years ago and remembered really enjoying the book. Just recently, we adopted it as part of a marriage study, and I am really appreciating it's value in working through the natural relational tendency to move towards isolation. It uses that thread of thought to hit several areas. If you do this book as part of a study, you may want to pick up the Love Dare book as well to give practical homework assignments to strengthen your marriage.

Good information and suggestions for staying close as a couple and warding off the isolation and drifting that can occur after a while in marriage.

It was easy to read and left me wanting to participate in the Homebuilders series. Thanks for making it fun.

Excellent book and very well written. Our Bible study group is using it for a marriage study. All four couples feel that it is helping their marriages.

great book and fast shipping

If you have been married a number of years you don't realize how easily you can drift apart. This is a must read for every married couple

This book is helpful in maintaining a close relationship in marriage. It really spoke to preventing isolation and withdrawal.

Love this boom. Great stuff for families, couples...

The advice in this book can be used or implemented at any stage of relationship because it does not require me to dig into my spouses personal life. I can work at the relationship from my side & do my part whether or not he responds. The advice in this book suggests actions that can illicit positive response from the partner.This book is very applicable to our situation & will continue to be practical in practice. It feels like I have come across a fix-it manual. Time will tell whether I am able to affect positive results & responses. Very grateful for this book.I recommend this book to people contemplating marriage & to all people who are married & having difficulty connecting with each other.