The author uses an old european folk legend that he interprets over the length of the book to transport his views about the development of the collective male psyche (in the sense of C.G. Jung).
While the author succeeds in striking a cord every now and then, most of the book consits mostly of - sometimes very confused - personal, mythological views of how especially men can develop their "fully personality". This personality in turn is a strange amalgam of various archetypical figures (lots of different kings, warriors, maidens, crones, hunters, trickster, magicians and the like) which all need some kind of initiation to become fully developed. Enjoy if you are heavily into mythology and have a affinity to Jungian Psychology everyone else can probably find something better to spend their time with. ( )

top notch stuff. should be required reading for all men. should be highly recommended reading for all women. a little fast-and-loose at times, but nonetheless incredibly insightful. ( )

I have a lot of respect for this book. It is centered around a particular myth. If you follow the whole Jungian/ Joseph Campbell/ archetype thing, you will immediately recognize Iron John to be something more than a story or a parable -- it is a peek into an experience shared by men, not just those who might have been abused or neglected.

I don't think it would be a particularly useful book for women, children or aliens to understand men, and I would not encourage the women in my life to read it because like many personal things, it looks silly and perhaps even trivial to an uninvolved observer. It's a book to help men understand themselves. ( )

My ex-husband was obsessed with this book. Finally reading it after many years I understand its appeal to fatherless men or those with dysfunctional fathers. That guided transition from boyhood to manhood is largely missing in modern society. This book may prove helpful to those who are trying to guide a boy and to help those who missed that step of development in understanding their loss. The mythological analogies can be tiresome, but Bly is a poet after all and without them the impact would be lost. Iron John can be helpful for a woman to understand the men in her life and for men to understand themselves. ( )