Rating: 
Summary: Unflinchingly Honest Relationship Gravedigging
Review: If you like reading about relationships, and why and how they go wrong (or even work), I think you will enjoy Five Men Who Broke My Heart.Susan Shapiro does not hold back as she excavates the five loves of her life and how they went wrong. Anyone who's ever "Googled" an ex may have dreamed about taking that next step and actually phoning them up, and asking them what went wrong...now you can do that vicariously, in a way, through Shapiro's book. I liked how Shapiro shared the details of her former relationships, especially all the little things that grated on either party after the initial thrill had worn off. I found Shapiro to be a talented writer whose words are engaging and can bring a smile to your face. But I found some of the wittiest or most memorable phrasings coming from the other characters in the book. Her boyfriends all seem to have a very good idea of what makes her tick, and most go along with her e-mail or in-person interviews. The things they say about her, or about why the relationship in question went wrong, may get you thinking about the other perspective in your own relationships. In the end, it seems one boyfriend summed it up in asking, why do you need any kind of approval from me, when you've accomplished these professional goals? This is something she seems to realize later as well. Other questions the book raises: why and how does she compete with her mother's choices, in terms of family and career? What are the issues in deciding to have a family in later life, especially if one person in the marriage wants it and the other doesn't? How do you feel when your ex'es are going through marriages, babies, successes, divorces? How do they react toward your successes (or not-so-successes, as the case may be)? Shapiro also shares intimate details of her and her husband's struggle to conceive and deal with the consequences thereof. All in all, an engaging entry into the world of women's memoir, in my opinion. Julia Wilkinson, author, My Life at AOL
Rating: 
Summary: SUSAN, TELL IT TO A SHRINK!
Review: I'm sorry, I picked up this book because I hoped I would be able to find myself in it--I am also a big city girl (Chi-town) who somehow managed to marry the wrong man (I am now divorced).
I was looking for a book that would make me laugh, and also explain what I had done wrong and how not to make the same mistake next time.
Well, I could not find myself in Shapiro's book. I could not find ANYONE but Susan Shapiro. This woman has an ego bigger than Lake Michigan. It's all mememememe.
No wonder Susan has had such hard luck with men! Her husband must be a saint (or a masochist.) The whole raison d'etre of Shapiro's book is that she was enraged that someone would NOT marry her. She can't figure out why someone would not like her, when really she's just completely self-obsessed.
Susan Shapiro should PAY OTHER PEOPLE to listen to (or read) this egomaniacal rant.
Rating:
Summary: Is this what gets published nowadays?
Review: Certainly a readable if not exactly cohesive collection of writings...the author is fast and clever enough with words to keep a reader moving along...but all in all, not much here that hasn't been done better elsewhere. The author's compulsive, relentless personality probably makes her a good journalist but for this reader, that urgent, breathless, tell-all tone doesn't cut it in a book-length work. Plus the book is verbose, and padded (like her bras) with too many details (did we need to know the color of all those Pashmina scarves? or what size shoes she wears?) about food, clothing, music, parties, food, e-mails, and cars. Yawn. Kiss of Death: I didn't laugh out loud even once. Glad I borrowed this one from the public library. I'd be annoyed if I had paid for it.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Read!!!
Review: "Five Men Who Broke My Heart" kept me laughing and crying throughout the entire book. I didn't put it down from the moment I purchased it, until the turn of the last page. Her memoir takes an in-depth look at the relationships that broke her heart; and which, ultimately, taught her lifetime lessons of human nature and love. Many can relate to the triumph and strife that Susan experiences in each situation, and we can learn from her mistakes and introspection into 'what went wrong' with each boyfriend. Susan is a wonderful, funny, and fluid writer; I can't wait to pick up her next book!
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Summary: What a Great Memoir
Review: I really loved Five Men Who Broke My Heart--what a great memoir Susan Shapiro has given us--so honest, so funny. Reading this one is like sitting down with your best friend as she recounts running into an old flame--like gossip, only somehow more fun. Shapiro decided to revisit all of her past loves after Brad--her old boyfriend from college and then some resurfaced in her life. The memoir opens as she is trying to decide what to wear. It's a funny scene and it sets the stage for the honest, open and very funny book. She manages to track down the other four men in her love history she considered major heartbreakers and the memoir recounts everything--the courtships, the relationships, the breakups. We finally get to the sixth guy--Aaron, the one who didn't break her heart, the one she married, and it all makes sense. Shapiro shares much with us--she is a brave woman--I don't know many who would air their secrets as she did, but thank goodness she did. This is a fun, entertaining read. Share it with your best girlfriends, they will love it.
Rating:
Summary: breathlessly honest book
Review: Shapiro's ability to be frank, poetic, and smart at the same time made this a must read. I couldn't put it down. It was poignant and hilarious, from the soul. And brave of her to reveal herself in the interest of having a universal conversation - we all have pasts and exes that we'd like to exorcise as a way to embrace the present. Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Although the premise is interesting, the resulting memoir is less than satisfying. I found it neither humorous nor heartening, and altogether pointless. The author seems more concerned with appearances than with real depth and insight. I find it hard to believe that this book has gotten such raving reviews; it's unsettling to imagine what else people are reading if this book is considered five star.
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Summary: The perfect beach read!
Review: This book has a great premise -- wouldn't we all want to find out why someone dumped us? -- and it makes good on it. When I was on vacation recently in Florida I was reading "Five Men" by the side of the pool and had to swat away several other women who wanted to get their water-stained hands on it. (I directed them them to Amazon.) Shapiro has such an original voice -- she can be a tough, hard New Yorker one moment and a Michigan softy the next. The books is filled with great one-liners, but by the end she breaks your heart. Along these lines, "Five Men" is a great beach read, but it can also be taken on another level -- as a story about how we can take for granted the people who love us best, and how important it is to keep them to close to our hearts.
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Summary: Never Stopped Surprising Me
Review: This book really made me laugh. It just kept changing directions on me. I thought it was going to be about the boyfriends, then the narrator, then her family. Shapiro managed to pull off all three in what you realize is a kind of classic movie structure...Act 1, Act 2, Act 3. I guess that makes the book very cinematic -- giving us just enough of each scene then moving on. It's also kind of romantic where you expect it will be mean and full of getting even. And some of these guys are worth a little getting-even with. I couldn't stop laughing at them, though. What do you know, has the women's movement developed a sense of humor? I also read the new Carrie Fisher recently and Five Men was more fun. It reminded me of a book I loved a long time ago, Memoirs of an Ex-Prom Queen. I'd like to re-read that, and I know I'll re-read Five Men.
Rating:
Summary: book OK, but reviews are obviously a fake
Review: This book has some good material, I saw the author on television where she was good, and read most of the book in a bookstore. Don't buy the book, you can read all of it easily in an hour and a half at the most in a bookstore. All the five star reviews are from NY and are all similar and obviously fake as this certainly isn't a five star book. Is this really the best thing out there for a lot of people to buy or read?
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