Man Up: Cracking the Code of Modern Manhood (edition 2012)

I liked the authors approach to unraveling what some label as a complex generation. Gomez spells it out! I was able to pass the good read along to several young men who found it informative and relative to what they were experiencedaor had once in their life. The media paints a negative picture to what may simply be a young male trying to find his way in this world. We have been condition to label someone as a predator if he dresses a certain way or appears to be too aggressive . Spenindg more time helping and less time judging may solve be the solution to solving what appears to be a problem

From the description, I expected this book to be a sociological study, so I was disappointed to find it was a memoir, and a rather shallow one at that. The author, like many children of privilege, mistakes mild insults for serious discrimination, when he's never been subjected to any real hardship.

If you're stuck in an airport with nothing better to do, this would be worth reading, but I didn't find it to be particularly enlightening and I got tired of the whining. ( )

A very entertaining memoir! Despite the title, that is really what this book was, in my opinion. As a woman, I've been pretty curious about the "male perspective." I knew it had to be more than the stereotypical image of a man that society paints. Anyway, in between is a usually emotional poem that that sets the mood for the next chapter. This novel is written in first person and details the different chapters in Gomez's life.

I really liked how honest Gomez was. He didn't gloss over his personal failings or hide his feelings from the reader. He left it to the audience to decide their own opinion, which is a brave thing to do. Aside from that, the writing was superb. It's no surprise, since he's a poet, but you can really see his talent in weaving such descriptive pictures with his words. His thoughts were concise and clear and I could easily understand what he was trying to say. Nothing pleases me more than a book that I can understand!

I'm very specific about the memoirs. I especially don't like ones that try to manipulate your feelings. In a way, Gomez does but his method is so brilliantly subtle, I don't even feel like I'm forced to feel something. I recommend this book to both male and female readers alike. It might resonate better with men but I think women could learn quite a bit things from this book too. However, because of his honest and clear thoughts, this book might not be good material for our younger readers.

Won in a giveaway in return for an honest review ( )

I've had a hard time deciding exactly how I feel about this book. While I agree with most of what Gomez writes, most of it seems like common sense. There was nothing here particularly profound for me. But again, as a 43-year-old woman, I'm not the audience for this work. I can imagine that for young men, some of these stories and confessions could come as real revelations. And I long for a world where men would embrace sensitivity and compassion more readily. Hopefully, "Man Up" can serve that purpose. ( )

I thought this was going to be a theoretical study of manhood, but it was more of a memoir. It had some poetry in it too. I thought I would assign it to my students for my gender and sexualities class (and maybe I still will. It is showing a different side that men can have. Maybe I will pair it with some Michael Kimmel or something more theoretical ( )