cover image THE RULES FOR MARRIAGE: Time-tested Secrets for Making Your Marriage Work

THE RULES FOR MARRIAGE: Time-tested Secrets for Making Your Marriage Work

Ellen Fein, . . Warner, $16.95 (208pp) ISBN 978-0-446-52696-8

For faithful followers of the The Rules, the authors of that wildly popular dating manual now provide a lifelong "maintenance" plan—that is, more rules—on how to hang onto husbands once they've been nabbed. Rule 36 ("It's easier to stay married than to get married") sums up their strategy. But many women will wonder about the payoff in marriage as depicted here, which for women involves being someone else's cheerleader for life, expecting neither sympathy nor applause for doing the chores and not forcing one's husband to talk, on the premise that men are from Mars. Even common-sense advice—such as keep up your own interests and give him time alone when he comes home—sounds callow in Fein and Schneider's hands. At least they don't pretend there's anything new in these "time-tested" rules. Other familiar fare includes scheduling a date night and reminders not to nag or to try to be a superwoman. Some of the original rules, like the one about having "long hair," are included. Others may be unpleasant for some readers: do things you don't want to do, like go to football games or see his family. The rules are clear on the subject of fidelity: the marriage is over if the husband cheats even once. Perhaps because of the disclosure of coauthor Fein's recent divorce, the book also covers the dos and don'ts of divorce—have dignity and date ASAP—and second marriages. (June)

Forecast:Despite its arguably retrograde stance, this guide is as golden as a wedding band. The media has already begun to roll in—though much has been related to Fein's divorce. But "Rules girls" will still flock to the author tour venues in five cities, and countless brides or brides-to-be will receive the book as a gift, serious or otherwise.