Relationships Matter

“Don’t date this guy, he’s crazeeeee.”
–Diana Abu-Jabar, “Of Romance And Revolution”

Mr. Wrong is the tug behind your navel, the guy who lights you up like a Roman candle, the danger you can’t resist. And just about every woman, at some point in her life, has encountered one–or many.

Women everywhere will see themselves in these witty, wise, and entertaining personal essays by some of the literary world’s most accomplished and bestselling authors, including Jane Smiley, Audrey Niffennegger, Jacquelyn Mitchard, Ntozake Shange, Roxana Robinson, Marge Piercy, and Ann Hood. Readers will delight in the array of Mr. Wrongs encountered in these pages–from harmless and charming to revolting and offensive–and ultimately relish the notion that even if we succumb to the temptation of an utterly reckless romance, we can emerge with our hearts intact.

By turns wry and heartfelt, lighthearted and redemptive, these insightful, uplifting real-life stories run the emotional gamut, from Whitney Otto’s satisfying tale of a Mr. Wrong who receives his comeuppance in an unexpected way, to Robin Westen’s steamy account of lust with a zen master, to Monika Ekk’s rueful “I Married a Wanker!” Some are hilarious, like Marion Winik’s “The Ten Most Wanted,” while others, like Catherine Texier’s “Russian Lessons,” take us to the dark side of love and longing.

For every prince charming there are a million frogs. If you’ve ever trusted a man you couldn’t trust, Mr. Wrong will make you laugh, cry, and shake your head in recognition at yourself and your friends.

User Reviews about Mr. Wrong: Real-Life Stories About the Men We Used to Love

This book has it all - humor, pathos, entertainment. Some excellent writers have found the courage to share the tales of love-life mistakes they have made in a way that enriches us all. Some stories made me laugh, and one or two came so close to my own history that it was like seeing myself through a different set of eyes. Joyce Maynard's touching "Your Friend Always" had the power to make me read through it three times, seeing different things in it each time. Pick this book up and read it! -- A great read for everyone who's known a Mr. Wrong

I thoroughly enjoyed this diverse collection of true tales, masterfully strung together to maintain its momentum--and to keep me reading one after another. The title proved a good hook, but once inside, I found very little gender-fueled smugness.

The stories are filled with all-too-human love seekers, both male and female. Some of these real-life chapters are far different from my own experiences (or am I repressing?), yet I felt an immediate kinship with these women (and man). And tremendous empathy with some of the male partners. I was also amazed at the candor of the contributors (apart from disguising some names of their subjects, which was to be expected). Several of them are well-known writers, who clearly did not give their contributions short shrift.

To the credit of the editor, perhaps, there was a satisfying absence of lightweight sentimentality. I found the stories engaging, funny, frightening, sad, cynical, or just plain out-there, but they all had substance and ultimately were very believable.

I want to give everyone a copy of this next Christmas! -- Love Is Strange

I don't know if I "enjoyed" this book. The stories were funny, sad, & frightening. The authors were skilled & the book well-written. I read it right through & I liked the variety. Still, I was so empathetic with the women for the bad situations they found themselves in that this is the reason that I don't know if I "enjoyed" this book.
I would, however, share it with my best friends knowing that they would be entertained by the quality & the variety. -- Did I enjoy this book?

These essays from women writers run the gamut from Ethel Morgan-Smith's whimsical piece on mid-life personal ads, to Jane Smiley's sensitive and reflective essay on her youthful marriage, to Diana Abu-Jaber's arch and unpleasant account of an eccentric but down-market youthful dalliance.

Some are painfully revealing - of youthful indiscretion and cluelessness, most commonly - but some also illuminate critical, vulnerable moments in the writer's life. Two of these are among the most intense and unflinching in the book.

Joyce Maynard's spiraling correspondence with a convict could not have happened without her painful divorce. When, at the end, she quotes an early passage from the man's letters, it gives the reader a jolt to realize she found them comforting, and a hint of queasiness to recognize the rush of secret excitement they injected into her unhappy life.

Jacquelyn Mitchard contacts an old never-forgotten lover after her husband dies in his early 40s and attempts to resurrect a youthful fantasy. Sounds like something more than one of us (man or woman) has given a passing thought? Squash it.

Roxana Robinson's story of teenage expectation, ignorance, rebellion, and her first senior prom manages to combine complexity, character and intensity with sweetness and retrospective understanding.

Then there are the cute scoundrels, the needy ones and the really bad boys (Marion Winik gives an expert's rundown in the aptly named "The Ten Most Wanted"). There are the ones who stick like glue when you've sworn them off and disappear when you want them, and there are the good ones who got away.

Whether funny, rueful, scary or simply poignant, these essays will strike a chord of recognition in every woman and most men too. -- The ash and sputter of old flames

This book was quick and fun to read, a cross between literary anthology and _Cosmopolitan_. In it you will find a treasure-trove of love debacles ranging from the banal to the bizarre. Sometimes it definitely isn't only the Mr. who is Wrong, but the Ms. as well. You may choose to read some accounts as cautionary tales: Don't be clingy and needy, don't freak out when things don't seem perfect or that will really be the end, don't be sucked in by boys you *know* are bad, bad, bad and who you'd be embarrassed to introduce to your co-workers, and on and on. One story, which confused me at first, was by a gay man looking for romance in London. After all the feminine whining I'd come through, it somehow jarred my expectations, but I suppose it was good for contrast and comparison. The story I liked best was in fact the only other one written from the point of view of a man - this one falls in love with a handicapped e-mail correspondent, who he eventually is ready to leave his family for. Read it for the great surprise ending. The book alternately offers proof that "it could be worse", whatever situation you find yourself in; or the feeling that being single has a lot going for it; or at times simply puzzlement at how some people could be so warped and how others could actually end up stuck in a connection with them. One of the most encouraging parts of this book was learning that some of the contributors had at the time of the writing racked up over a decade in a relatively well-functioning and happy marriage with a Mr. Right. In the end, that is the positive message I personally took from this book. -- Entertainment, consolation, hope for singles?