Rating: 
Summary: A fun way to spend a few hours
Review: Finally! My theory that there is a three-month turning point in a relationship is echoed! I had 3 relationships where I was dumped after 3 months, for no obvious reason, and I too hurt for a LONG time, although not quite obsessively or in such a humorous way. I am now happily married and have a child, but this book brought back all of that angst, and now I can laugh along while reading about it.This book does not rank up there w/ Bridget Jones' Diary, but it is worth a look.
Rating: 
Summary: Save your time, money and patience
Review: The last time I read a book this exciting it was my high school algebra text. Too bad the professor who wrote it didn't have Ms. Zigman's publicist since it, too, would have probably become a bestseller. It isn't possible that this boring piece of work can have any appeal to anyone over 30. If the author had put even 10% of her time into actually writing the book, rather than compiling research notes to pad this weak pretense of a novel out to 300 pages, it might have had some possibility. As it is, within a few chapters the author is dumped and settles in to whine over the demise of the ridiculously shallow relationship of 3 months and to wallow in self-pity for the remainder of the book. The few hours it took to read this trite piece of work - about an hour for the plot and the rest of the time for the quotes - seemed like months and you just want to say, "Oh for heaven's sake, grow up and get a life"! Perhaps when the author does grow up she'll find that her future lies in research - not writing. If you are looking for some real entertainment in this genre read "Bridget Jones Diary" or "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" - both are far superior.
Rating:
Summary: you'll forget about it 5 minutes after you finish it
Review: "Animal Husbandry" reminds me of a box of chocolates! A friend brings them as a gift, you store them somewhere in the kitchen, supposedly because you'll just eat one at a time..but then one friday night you just eat them all in one go. This is that kind of book. You read it in one go, in a couple of hours & then feel as if you just indulged yourself..this book is, in my opinion, definitely NOT literature & you shouldn't treat it as such. It's about this single woman who cannot get over this guy who dumped her, even though they had only been going out for a couple of months, even though there were all these signs that he was not at all reliable (he was cheating on his long time girlfriend AND constantly put her down, he got intimate with Jane immediately..sure signs of a loser) but Jane for some mysterious reason didn't see through all this & instead was shocked & hurt when he left her...Afterwards, she spends over a year crying over the breakup, which is basically unbelievable. When did she manage to even begin to love this guy? they only went out for 2-3 months... Still, this could have been a good book, an entertaining light read..but I didn't even find it that funny. There are far more humorous books in the "read it like you would a magazine" category- books by Marian Keyes, or by Helen Fielding..
Rating: 
Summary: Chicken Soup for the Dumped's Soul
Review: Zigman takes the melodrama out of the post relationship scene and depicts it well as a painful recovery process. For anyone seeking insight onto why your lover has pulled an 180, just look to the old cow-new cow theory. Regardless of whether you are an embittered dumped woman, this book has great insights into the psychology of men, women, and how we all come together. Read it!
Rating:
Summary: Amazingly articulate
Review: After three years of old-cow status, reading Zigler's book was like talking to an old, good, about what possibly was the most traumatic breakup of my life. Negative reviews aside: I responded to this book, to Jane's situation, to the fact that rational thinking has nothing to do with the mending of a broken heart. I've bought it for friends. I too like Brigid Jones Diary but this spoke more to my shattered, yet recovering, heart. Save yourself the 15 sessions with a therapist and just read "Animal Husbandry." Now that I think about it my therapist was, pre-breakup, simpatico with Zigler's theories all along.
Rating:
Summary: I applaud the effort
Review: It reminded me of an essay and was way too repetitive. It made me uncomfortable how willing she was to wallow in her misery when the guy obviously wasn't worth it. (Yes, I've been dumped - it was way uglier than the story in the book - I'm not completely heartless). I just don't see how moping and obsessing for a year while referring to yourself as a cow helps.
Rating:
Summary: zzzzzzzzzzz
Review: After reading the "Brigid Jones' Diary" I found myself browsing in the New Fiction section of my local bookstore for something similar. I was assured that "Animal Husbandry" would be what I was looking for, and let me assure you now, it certainly was not. The main character, Jane, is an insipid, weak, paranoid and shallow person, whose hardly traumatic break-up plunges her into the depths of self-absorption the like of which I have not seen since Sylvia Plath. The "old-cow, new-cow" theory is trite and unoriginal and is really just an excuse for truly examining the intricacies of intimacy. Not to mention the Jane Goodall scenario is completely implausible. This is a book that a fourth grader might appreciate for its low humor; however, any woman who's ever been seriously involved in a relationship will have little to no patience for the simplistic categorizations of romance Laura Zigman has created.
Rating:
Summary: Laughing through a broken heart
Review: I found this book as I was wandering through a bookstore in a post break-up zombie fashion. As soon as I read the cover I knew my search for something to help heal my broken heart was over. This book was like therapy for me. I loved it so much I went out and bought it for every old cow I knew as a Christmas present. I know these reviews are supposed to be critical of the content, but how can I begin to critique a book that could make me laugh through my broken heart?
Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: from the phrase "old cow-new cow" the reader can infer all that will be said on the subject by the author. these are not exactly new concepts. i kept waiting for some enlightened, original twist to come along. and waiting. and waiting. just read the back cover of the book and you've pretty much got the jist of it. perhaps this could have been excused if the plot were interesting or the dialogue snappy or the characters likable. i wasn't expecting to be astounded by a profound and enlightening modern classic and i realize this probably wasn't the author's aim. but i was expecting to be entertained in a brigid jones's diary kind of way. this book did not even accomplish that.
Rating:
Summary: Riotous
Review: I laughed out loud at many points, as well as feeling some of the blows dealt the heroine of this wonderful novel. It is dead funny and dry. Read with gin.
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