Book Review

[Tim PattenParticipant 658]

5-STAR Review
While reading Tim Patten’s MGTOW is Forever: Being Your Best Possible Self, I couldn’t help but think about a couple of movies which portrayed marriage and divorce. Back in the 1970’s, Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep played the lead roles in Kramer vs. Kramer about a wife who quite unexpectedly leaves her husband and little boy. It is an endearing portrait of a man raising his son as best as possible. Not unexpectedly, the wife who had abandoned them, returns, wanting her son. A nasty courtroom fiasco follows, and Hoffman loses his son to the wife.
In a recent film, A Marriage Story, a husband is again the victim of a fickle wife who divorces him through a high pressure, seemingly man-hating attorney, and threatens to take away his son. Unlike most real-life stories—which Patten lays out in detail in the first half of his book—these two movies have happy endings with the husband and wife coming to terms with separation and child rearing. These are unrealistic outcomes. Usually what happens is hatred and bitterness, according to Patten, with a man not only losing his children but also his self-respect.
As noted, this book has two distinct halves. In the first part, Patten recounts the stories of men who had their souls ripped out by women through divorce, custody hearings and a system which tends to always side with the woman. These stories illustrate the need for a different path for most men. In the second half, which is an outstanding self-help treatise, Patten focuses on how men can move forward after life altering breakups (I would posit that Patten’s tips could also be used by women, although he may think that blasphemy).
Patten uses the example of preparing for a speech to advocate for a series of actions which any man can take to improve his lot in life. He strongly recommends preparation and even life coaching for success. But, above all, he stresses that a man must have a passion in life—no, not a passion for a woman—but some other meaningful task, hobby, pastime which will give meaning to his life. Finally, like John Keating in the film Dead Poets Society, he wants men to “seize the day” and urges men to “Taste, smell, and feel the world around you.” Any man would do well to consider Patten’s thoughts about life, women, marriage and children.

[Sky-OParticipant 18933]

I have not read the book yet.

However, I just want to say that I am extremely impressed with the photographer of the cover art for being able to get Chad to stay still and pose so well for the pic.

[Author]

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