Review of Smart Love

[Maliha Naveed]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Smart Love" by Vincent Fudge II.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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In his book SMART Love, the author Vincent Fudge II has documented the relational growth that he and his wife underwent after an episode of outburst on the author’s part. He had an argument with his wife that escalated into an ugly fight between both, and he ended up in jail for being physically violent towards her. This particular incident put him on the path of finding ways through which they could work on their marriage. He decided to apply his work strategies on his relationship in order to make it work effectively. For this purpose, he took the support of SMART(an acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound) project (which is a business term used for the setting of goals and objectives for better results) and recorded the progress month by month throughout the whole year. After his release from the prison, he began working on this along with his wife. Throughout the project, they faced many challenges that arose from their egotistic behaviors, but they kept going on, trying not to give up.

SMART Love is a self-help book but with an entirely new approach. I really liked the way the author looked at the problems in his marital life through the eyes of a businessperson. The book is divided into three parts i.e., the prologue, the month-wise growth, and the epilogue. Throughout the middle part, he keeps reminiscing about his past in the form of anecdotes that work as a background for his present relationship with his wife. It is very relatable and story-like. The tone is quite informal that makes it easy for the readers to follow the narrative. I am sure that the tolerance versus love concept presented by the author will resonate with many of the readers and compel them to think about their own relational woes and how to fix them. My favorite part in the book is the author’s emphasis on the importance of communication between two people and in this case husband and wife. It rings a bell when he implies that there should be no ‘single-minded thinking’ (98) in a relationship.

Another attractive feature of the book is the incorporation of the inspirational sayings about love, empathy, and life in general by great thinkers and authors, which consolidate the author’s whole idea of putting in effort to making relationships work. The book is full of sayings from The Bible as well which show that the author is a religious person and believes in the power of higher authority. He keeps returning to God asking for forgiveness and guidance towards the right path.

Throughout, the author has been very practical and honest in expressing his thought process. The language he has used is very descriptive and full of analogies. The only negative thing about the book is that the sentences are usually very long, consisting of too many clauses which sometimes make it difficult to follow the point. Overall, the book is very well edited with just two typos. For this reason, I rate the book 4 out of 4 stars.

I would recommend this book to all the couples, married or unmarried, who are going through the same dilemma in their relationship as the author and his wife, and are seeking to fix it amicably. This book might also prove very helpful for the single people who are waiting to be committed and are looking for someone to give them useful tips to maintain a respectful and successful relationship.

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Smart Love
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[Oyedeji Funmilayo]

It is quite funny how the two couples realized they needed to work on their Marriage. I am glad they worked things out between themselves and put into writing how to help others. Wonderful review welldone

[Maliha Naveed]

It is quite funny how the two couples realized they needed to work on their Marriage. I am glad they worked things out between themselves and put into writing how to help others. Wonderful review welldone

Thank you.