The Joy of Imperfection - Softcover

Howarth, Enid

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1577490118 ISBN 13: 9781577490111

Publisher: Fairview Press, 1996

Synopsis

This guide to being ordinary entices readers toward self-acceptance rather than obsessive self-improvement.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

In 1991, Howarth and Tras published an article in the Albuquerque Journal called "Perfect You're Not: The Adventure of Being Ordinary," which they decided to expand into a book. And expand it they did. As they've cast it, imperfection is a very wide net, encompassing everything from co-dependency to optimism. The thread is that life is filled with established models?daughter, son, wife, husband, worker, parent, human?and we all tend to spend a lot of time trying to fit them. In each of 24 chapters, the authors discuss one myth, the truth, illuminating fables, goals and affirmations. Howarth and Tras, who are both involved in psychodrama and have collaborated as therapists and workshop facilitators, do a good job of urging readers to break out of those molds without settling for mediocrity. The biggest problem is that, despite one chapter on relieving parents of the blame for one's less than perfect life, the authors usually do trace problems back to parents without advising parents how to do better: "For instance a child will notice that Daddy is unsteady, has a lamp shade on his head, and smells funny... How can Mommy keep saying that nothing's wrong?" On the other hand, how can Mommy say, "Sorry, dear, Daddy's blotto again"? That aside, The Joy if Imperfection is basically liberating and at its best full of good humor as when the authors take a caustic look at what Snow White teaches girls: "It pays to know the Heimlich maneuver." and "Good girls must cheerfully take care of all the men in their lives even if they're grumpy, sleepy, sneezy, or dopey."
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Going where no self-help book has gone before, The Joy Of Imperfection is a guide to being ordinary, thereby enticing readers toward self-acceptance rather than obsessive self-improvement. The Joy Of Imperfection is based on the premise that it is our imperfections that enable us to be different, to explore new frontiers, to be flexible, imaginative, and crative, to have fun, to laugh, and to be ourselves. The Joy Of Imperfection is a lighthearted and practical guide to living in the real world, in Kansas rather than Oz. The Joy Of Imperfection describes how illusions begin, why they flourish, and effective ways to melt the wicked myths of the West. The Joys Of Imperfection just might be the most useful self-help book ever published! -- Midwest Book Review

About this edition

• Publisher: Fairview Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 1577490118
• ISBN 13: 9781577490111
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208