Rating: 
Summary: insightful and funny
Review: First off, I loved High Fidelity too, and as smart, funny and true as that was, there is a big difference between a fictional character looking up their exes and someone doing it for real. This shows you why. I am amazed at how honest Susan Shapiro is in this book, as she takes you through her tortured trek to find her lost loves and then learn something from the experience. "The Five Men Who Broke My Heart" (great title, by the way) is a quick read, but it's not shallow. Shapiro has some very insightful things to say about male-female relations and the baggage we bring to current-day romances. Plus it's funny -- often hysterically funny. It's worth buying just to learn about the truly warped "disease game" her family played at the dinner table, or the behind-the-scenes look at what it's like to write for "The New York Times Book Review" (not fun, apparently.) And it has a happy ending, culminating with Shapiro's very downtown-chic wedding. Finally, I agree with the writer who said it's not just for chicks; I am not a big buyer of the female confessional genre but this book is hard to put down. I think any guy could learn something from this book. I know I did.
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Summary: Like a box of gourmet chocolates i wanted to savor it and de
Review: I bought this book a few days after Valentines day, the anti christ holiday for women like myself who are going through a divorce or break up.I almost put it down because of the red dust jaket then I read the back page and remembered reading articles written by Susan Shapiro. I was not dissapointed. This book is about so much more than ex boyfriends ,it's about family, and girlfriends and husbands. How we form the relationships we do depending on who we are at the time. Susan Shapiro writes from the heart with brutal honesty , wit, sarcasim , courage and intelligence. All the qualities you would want in a girlfriend, daughter, wife or teacher for that matter.Having lost my father I loved reading about her visit home and the insight that the one man she should have re met was her Dad. I'm so glad she had the chance. This is the type of book that when I finished it made me search the net for anything the author has written. I felt like I knew her when I got to the last page. Do yourself and your relationships a favor read this book .Thank you Susan
Rating:
Summary: A Delicious Read
Review: Reading this book was like having a long, luxurious lunch date with a very spicy and entertaining friend. Susan Shapiro spills it all about her life and loves. I loved reading about her old beaus. You could see how attractive they were and yet how imperfect for her. It was a good reminder how Mr. Half-Right can, in the long run, be Mr. 100 Percent Wrong. Before I picked up this book, I was afraid that it was going to be laid out (as it were), man by man--that chapter one would be about boyfriend number 1, etc. To me, that would be too repetitive and formulaic. But luckily, that's not what happens at all. In fact, the tale is told in a very suspenseful way as we follow the author's psychological journey. I was particularly struck by her insight about whether or not she should have a child near the end of the book. I was also dying to find out what would happen to her caring but distant marriage. Could she and her husband find a way to draw closer? In fact, seeing her struggles over this issue makes me think that this book is a natural not just for people who've had their hearts broken, but for people who are in solid (but perhaps sometimes dull or distant) relationships as well. It is a psychologically astute book. but to be honest, I was also hooked by the humor that arose naturally from the quirks of the writer and of her family. I loved reading of her love of diet soda, her (early) horror of exotic food, and passion for high heels. She put it all out there and it made for some tasty reading! I hope to read more by this author in the future.
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Summary: Heartfelt, Heartwarming and Heartbreaking -- All at Once
Review: Sue Shapiro's first (I hope of many)book is heartfelt, heartwarming and heartbreaking, all at the same time. It literally had me veering between laughter and tears. It's the kind of book that can be a fun, fast read if you want -- one you feel you can't put down and, instead, read straight through the night until you get to the end, not caring how tired you'll be the next morning. However, I forced myself to put it down, to literally pace myself so that I could savor the book as long as possible, sometimes stopping to go back and read a phrase or passage over and over again. (How did she come up with that phrase on page 5? Oh to be able to think and write like that!!)Although it's an insightful story about relationships between men and women, there's a lot to learn here, too, about friends and family. The characters are so well drawn you can't help but care about all of them -- even the ones you think are jerks. Sometimes Shapiro seems so concerned for others (sometimes she doesn't seem aware of it at all, at other times there's no more ego present than seems understandable and appropriate), Shapiro sometimes forgets to take care of herself, often hiding behind her Concorde-like quick-wittedness. At the end, I wanted to start reading the book all over again, sure I had missed some other gem along the way. I've recommended it to all my friends, but I'm not sharing my copy.
Rating:
Summary: honest and real
Review: At the end of the book, I found myself wanting more. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a memoir that is candid and honest.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and heartfelt
Review: I join the chorus of the many readers that found this memoir heartfelt, warm and funny. It is not easy to deal with a single breakup, never mind several. Nevertheless, Susan Shapiro has a delightful and amusing way of describing her experiences. It's a wonderful read and I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I found someone's heartbreak entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: "Five Men...." is engaging, witty, and sincere
Review: There are few writers today writing with such wit, talent, sincerity, and purity of emotion. Like the brilliant journalist that she is, Shapiro investigates the most difficult story of all: love (in all its forms). Whether it's her honesty, willingness to love, strong sense of self, skills as a writer and journalist, or the men in her life that we have to thank, I don't know...but I do know that all of the above culminated into a book that I simply could not put down. "Five Men Who Broke My Heart" captures the ageless struggles between woman and lover, woman and husband, woman and mother, and goes one step further to capture the struggle of contemporary woman, and her desire to find a balance between career and family. Not only do the stories flow in and out of each other seamlessly, but Shapiro's sense of timing is immaculate, as she knows exactly when to make you cry, and when to make you laugh. I look forward to seeing more by this author, and possibly even encountering these characters again...
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Summary: Five Men Review
Review: I have never been so engaged, at times feeling like I was reading about my own past relationships. Susan Shapiro is truly gifted. It's rare that I feel such a connection with an author and I am anticipating her next book!
Rating:
Summary: A poignant and funny reality on relationships
Review: Not knowing what to expect from this book, I was able to jump head first into it with such a delight, laughing and relating to Shapiro from beginning to end--I even read it in several hours; I didn't want to put it down! Shapiro graciously allows the reader to enter her world of past and failed relationships, and in return helps us to learn not only of her current state of relationships, but of the reader's as well. I loved this book and was almost too able to compare my life's relationships with those of the author's. It even made me wonder what my past adventures would reveal about my current life. A pleasure to read, to escape to, and now a pleasure to look forward to her next endeavor!
Rating: 
Summary: I had high hopes, but...
Review: First off, this book is not "hysterical." David Sedaris is hysterical. Bill Bryson is hysterical. Anne Lamott is laugh-out loud funny. Susan Shapiro is honest, she's been around the block, but she's not particularly witty. I do love memoirs, and I had high hopes for this book. I was disappointed that the writing in the first half (the recounting of the meetings with or reminiscences of old flames) was surprisingly sloppy at times, as if they were in a rush to publish it. The dialogue as recorded is not particularly interesting, and reading of the old romances is compelling only in a voyeuristic sort of way - in the way that you'd listen in if someone on the bus were relaying their sex life loud enough to hear. Things didn't shape up until just past the middle, when she quotes the email of one of the guys (who IS funny), and then, when she tells of meeting her husband, her wedding(s), and the conclusion, where the writing is tighter. Another reader commented on an ego problem. Of course, memoirs need to be self-absorbed, but Shapiro does spend a lot of time telling us how many people think she is hot, and how funny everyone thinks her writing is. And it's hard to find sympathy with her quest to have a baby now when she's had 2 abortions in the past. I had hoped that the book would be a witty romp through romances of the past. Instead, it's simply a sometimes sloppily written recounting of not-too-terribly-interesting relationships, ditto on the present-day meetings. Too bad.
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