Chore Wars: How Households Can Share the Work & Keep the Peace

Rating:
Summary: Pretty helpful...didn't cover all syles of family life
Review: I thought this book was interesting and in fact became the topic of a dicussion group. The only issue it didn't address, that our group was looking for, was how stay-at-home moms can avoid the battles. It really comes from a basis of 2 working parents. But the quiz is a good communication opener.

Rating:
Summary: What a relief!--my wife and I are not alone!
Review: This is a wonderful book! It's funny and insightful, with loads of great advice, such as playing romping Rossini tunes whenever one cleans house! But truly the most valuable part for my wife and me was reading the testimonials of other couples and how they struggle with their differing cleaning styles. It made us laugh in recognition of ourselves, and feel more relaxed about a very touchy issue! Kudos to Thornton!

Rating:
Summary: This book could save more marriages than Masters & Johnson!
Review: What's the one topic that causes more domestic strife than any other? Money? Sex? Politics? In-laws? Nope. In terms of sheer, strength-sapping, soul-numbing volume, it's household chores -- no contest. Chore wars -- arguments over who's going to do what, and when, and how thoroughly, and with what sort of an attitude -- probably cause more bickering, resentment, and outright pain than all other cohabitational hassles put together.

At any rate, that's the well-demonstrated thesis of James Thornton's "Chore Wars," one of the most truly *useful* books I've come across in a long time. It's thoroughly researched and very entertainingly written (sample question from a self-assessment quiz: "Would you rather have okay sex in a clean house, or great sex in a messy house?"). However, what sets it apart from other books in its genre is a quality that might best be called "confessional." Mr. Thornton clearly has been through the chore wars. We gather that he is a former stereotypical male: a sock dropper, a beer-can strewer, a bathtub-scum ignorer, a veritable rancher of dust bunnies. Circumstances (his wife's problem pregnancy) forced him to change his Cro-Magnon ways, and he not only lived to tell about it, he found that he was much, much happier as a full participant in the running of his household. It's positively inspirational.

"Chore Wars" urges couples to focus not on blame, but on practical, one-step-at-a-time solutions. It also contains revealing profiles of real-life couples discussing their personal attitudes toward and experiences with chore wars -- including one glimpse of a "garbage house" that is absolutely chilling.

As someone who almost never reads books in the so-called Self Help category, I was doubly impressed with "Chore Wars." It's a bona fide page-turner with therapeutic value -- a very rare feat indeed.