How to Keep Your Man Happy

How to Keep Your Man Happy
by Seema Hingorrany

Paperback, 188 pages

Published: 2014

Publisher:  Random House India

ISBN:  9788184003550

Blurb: Is your man losing interest in you?
Do you wish to bring the spark back into your love life?

All relationships come with their fair set of challenges—communication gaps, sexual problems, conflict, commitment issues—the list is endless!

From the bestselling author of Beating the Blues: a complete guide to overcoming depression comes a book that will help women combat these challenges and help them learn the secret to attain relationship nirvana. From spotting signs of an unhappy relationship to long-term solutions that make a difference, How to Keep Your Man Happy will help make your man stay put, forever.

After having read Seema Hingorrany’s Beating the Blues around the same time last year, I had become her huge, huge fan. Beating the Blues was my first encounter with a book in the backdrop of clinical psychology and I was glad that I picked it up. After a year, when I was given yet another Seema Hingorrany book to review I couldn’t ever say no.

While Beating the Blues was about the problem of depression, How to Keep Your Man Happy takes a new direction to apply psychology in. It talks about relationships and primarily suggests women’s approach to make them better.

No wonder we’ve heard of the gender differences about perspective of things, which the popular phrase (and book) sums up as Men are From Mars, and Women are From Venus, but How to Keep Your Man happy takes us a level deeper. Dr Seema Hingorrany has touched several aspects of a relationship and has tried her level best that it should help her readers. And I am sure she is pretty successful at the attempt.

The book starts with Dr Hingorrany’s very interesting prologue followed by a chapter on dysfunctional relationships, how to detect them and what the possible causes of a dysfunctional relationship can be. I, personally didn’t know many facts about dysfunctional relationships until I came to read HTKYMH. The book is a flawless guide for understanding the nature of relationships.

The book is a perfect fit for married as well as unhitched couples alike. The book talks of the discords between couples which their minds, subconsciously, refuse to admit and deal with. From playing the blame game with the boyfriend to getting out all the frustration on a husband because of a mother-in-law, the book introduces us to all the things that women do to sabotage their relationships and fail to recognise.

It separately makes us realise the things that women do which irk the men, and also gives us suggestion on how to keep off from that kind of a behaviour. Another topic covers the common mistakes that women make in a relationship, how men are affected by it, figuring out if we are doing the same and the alternatives to keep these mistakes at bay and making our relationships healthy ones.

The second part of the book introduces us to different personality types of men. This part of the book seemed the most interesting to me. We have different personality types explained as Mr Adventurer, Mr Fun, Mr Meticulous, Mr Geek, Mr Romantic, Mr Mood Swings, Mr Sulker, Mr Commitment Phobic, Mr High Tempered, Mr Serious, Mr Protector, Mr Stingy, Mr Arguer and Mr Clingy. I don’t think there would be any girl/woman who can’t label her boyfriend/husband with at least one of these. Next, the author tells us the modus operandi of men’s thinking and how it is different from that of women, rather, how men and women look at the same thing with different perspectives. It also tells us what are the traits in women which men, generally, find attractive in women.

The third part of the book can be called the practical part of it. It tells us how we can deal with different types of men. In other words, it is a guide to making adjustments according to the personality type of your partner. Be it an angry man, a shy partner, a guy with low sex drive or a blatant liar- Ms Hingorrany gives you a perfect mantra to dealing with all kinds of men. The last chapter has full fledged tips for a healthy relationship which includes topics on getting the spark back into the relationship, creating a trusting bond, communicating better etc.

Over all, the book is very well written and very informative. I didn’t get bored reading it at any point. It might not be the best of all books on relationships out there, but it won’t be a waste if you read it because it just has so much to teach you. I is a book primarily for the fairer sex, so I would recommend it to women, naturally. Apart from a chunk of editing glitches, which at times makes the sentences incomprehensible, I didn’t find any major flaws with the book.

If you have time on your hands and want to learn about relationships and make your own relationship better, I’d say, give this book a try. You will certainly learn a good deal from it.