Rating: 
Summary: This is a 10 star book!
Review: This book should be required reading for women. I laughed until I cried and then I felt acceptance. Laura Zigman is an amazing author.
Rating: 
Summary: A trendy male-bash extravaganza...
Review: On the back cover of this book can be found the preface: "commitment... every woman wants it... men can't even spell it..." A broad, sweeping generalization (and not necessarily always true). Was I supposed to be laughing at that ? This book starts out wrong from the get-go and only gets worse from there...I would argue that Ms. Zigman's opening statement (her Thesis, if you will) is patently FALSE... certainly not EVERY women wants a commitment... and certainly not EVERY male is against commitment. Her statement makes about as much sense as me saying, "EVERY African-American wants 10 acres and a mule" simply because I happen to be African-American. Not very smart... and things only go downhill from there. Ms. Zigman tells her tale in allegorical fashion, using a female character as the protaganist in the story... but the story itself is so bitter that one can only imagine that the bitterness comes from Zigman's own relationships with men. And the men (in this book, at least) are bad... very bad. They are blamed for everything. Apparently we men just can't do ANYTHING right; everything we do is a horrible disaster. And what's even more interesting, everything that happens to women is also our fault. Men are blamed for: women having a poor body image (the self-described term "cow" is used repeatedly in the book)... eating binges/disorders... low self-esteem... mood swings... our (alleged) "lack of commitment"... and just about anything else you can think of. Male-bashing aside, Ms. Zigman is a lousy writer. If this kind of book wasn't so TRENDY, the publishers would have laughed her out of the building... and told her "no thanks." Her style is pretentious, relentless and overbearing... just what many Americans like to buy these days. But more enlightened readers will find her endless whining rather tiresome. My observation is that Ms. Zigman somehow confuses this sort of "bang and blame" psycho-babble as having some relation to REAL Feminism in it's purest form (which it does not). And something also tells me Laura Zigman probably wouldn't know an intelligent, self-confident, NON-DYSFUNCTIONAL woman even if one were standing right beside her... At any rate, the Oprah Winfrey/Ally McBeal crowd will LOVE this book; but women who are interested in the more positive aspects of improving relationships with men may prefer to look elsewhere. Men (unless you enjoy being endlessly bashed) should avoid this book completely. In closing, I would like to add that I am a GUY and I read this book... for which I surely deserve a Silver Star (at least) !
Rating: 
Summary: Horribly Disappointing
Review: I went out and bought this book after seeing the movie based on it (Someone Like You). I thought that it would be cute and endearing like the movie. It's not. It is dull and a struggle to get through. I am truely amazed that so many people have enjoyed this book. I understand that the "cow thing" is important to the story, but Ziggman obsesses about it, and i feel like it clogs up what little plot this book has.
Rating: 
Summary: Funny and unique look at male-female relationships.
Review: In Zigman's debut novel, the main character Jane Goodall takes a unique and humorous look at love, love lost, and the complex relationships between men and women and why we can't seem to understand each other. Some of her thoughts ring so true while others are so far fetched you have to laugh. All in all a good book and I would definitely read more from Zigman.
Rating: 
Summary: Extremely different
Review: I picked this up in an airport bookstore, thinking, "Ooo, some nice airplane floof." I was imagining something in the grand tradition of Helen Fielding and Lisa Jewell, or their counterpart for the teenage set, Louise Rennison. What I discovered was a well-written, intelligent book, more in the vein of a scientific discovery than anything else. When Jane Goodall (no, not the monkey scientist) is dumped by her boyfriend Ray two weeks prior to cohabitation and forced to move in with a womanizing coworker, she sees the male psyche from a whole new angle. This leads to a passionate, almost unhealthy obsession with the mating habits of male animals. She sees their habits as an almost direct parallell to the behavior of human men. Her obsession is presented in the form of wild-eyed rantings at her best friend Joan, and descriptions of the noteboks she fills obsessively. What this book is at heart is a presentation of theories. It is funny, educational, and written in the most creative manner I've seen recently. Overall, very good, and very worth the time.
Rating:
Summary: Chick-lit and Brit-chick-lit
Review: A comic novel about the love affairs of a sophisticated, thirtyish single woman living alone in a big city and working in television - sound familiar? If you haven't read Bridget Jones's Diary yet you may be more impressed by the originality of this. Of course lack of originality doesn't detract from entertainment value. Maybe we should just accept that there is now a genre/category (sometimes called called chick-lit) within which some authors chose to write. The heroine, called Jane Goodall is pre-occupied with a man who rejects her (plot lifted from Virgil's about Aeneas and Dido) and plans revenge (plot lifted from Euripides about Medea and Jason) which she does by writing (derived from evo-psychology) magazine articles about why men are unfaithful to their lovers. The quotations from animal behavior studies are among the best jokes.
It has some penetrating insights and funny satirical patches and it kept me interested and reading to the end.
Rating:
Summary: Good for your 'what to read after being dumped' list...
Review: After being dumped for no good reason at the dreaded three-month mark, the novel's heroine sets out on pseudo-scientific research study to figure out why men act the way they do. She comes up with a theory -- the "Old Cow-New Cow" hypothesis -- and her observations of her guerilla dating roommate, her ex and the married man her friend is seeing seem to bear it out. But the story is really about finding the strength to get off the 'what-will-become-of-me' couch and get on with our lives, even with a damaged heart.
Rating:
Summary: Cure for the Breakup Blues
Review: The ultimate in mind candy. It's a super fast read featuring an entertaining and reachable heroine. I highly recommend this book to anyone who's ever had their heart broken.
Rating:
Summary: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder at its best...
Review: Talk about a bitter woman! Jane Goodall has recently been dumped and wants to know why. She embarks on a mission to find out the reasoning behind her ex's strange behavior, and in doing so, finds some interesting parallels of the seducing, mating and moving-on habits between animals and men. Coming up with her own suggestion based on these ideals, Jane's Old-Cow-New-Cow theory is a sure-fire hit. Or is it? Laura Zigman has written a totally fun and witty novel about one woman's heartbreak and the desperation she has in proving it wasn't all because of her. I laughed, I sympathized. Jane Goodall embodies a gamut of emotions that comes with being dumped -- and believe me, we get to sample them all! This novel is wonderfully written and contains fascinating insight into male behavior. Easy to read and quick to get through, Animal Husbandry makes you a believer in the Old-Cow-New-Cow theory, and just as easily makes you think again. Bravo, kudos, applause, applause. Can't wait to read Laura's next book. Oh, how I love to be entertained.
Rating:
Summary: Hysterical
Review: I cracked up. I was really down on men when I read this (having just been dumped). I felt better almost immediately! Will not tax your brain, but may bring new perspective to things.
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