Love Stinks: The Romantic's Guide to Breaking Up Without Breaking Down

Addressed to women, this urbane guide to the fine art of ending relationships packs a laugh a minute into its brittle but perceptive pointers. Capsule analyses of the complexities of male-female relationships include case studies of such figures as Homer's Penelope (who ``singlehandedly inspired Marabel Morgan to pen her famous Total Woman formula''). Overbeck ( The Whole Birth Catalogue ) does not ignore the pain of a spouse's or lover's desertion or the discomforts of the dating scene, but her witty checklists--e.g., for determining the deadly problems in a relationship or the extent of an obsession--quizzes and rolls of dos and don'ts spoof the conventional self-help genre even as they deliver sound advice. Her light style is sure to bolster the heartbroken: ``Your mother, in particular, will take it very hard. She has always seen your romantic life in terms of oceanography. . . . `There's more than one fish in the sea.' However, now that you're planning to cut bait, the food chain has gone into sudden decline and, lo and behold, the sea is now 99.6 percent fish-free.'' (Feb.)