Nedra Glover Tawwab

Boundaries were never a topic of discussion while I was growing up. In fact, I learned some pretty unhealthy communication methods in my family of origin. As a result, I've spent many years trying to figure out how to have healthy adult relationships with others and how to uphold boundaries with myself.

Nedra Glover Tawwab's book covers those topics in depth, with kindness, compassion, and plenty of practical suggestions. In fact, that's what I liked about this book the most: the practical show more advice on how to communicate boundaries, uphold them and reinforce them when needed.

I found this book at a time in my life when I'd already learned most of this on my own through (sometimes painful) trial and error, but I would have benefited greatly from reading this in my 20s or early 30s. show less

I think this book will be very beneficial for a lot of people, but I feel as though the majority of examples boiled down to “how to keep assholes in your life without losing your mind.” So while it was interesting to learn some psychological terms previously unknown to me, I apparently don’t relate to most of what the author is speaking about.

On the one hand, straightforward and reassuring in its assertiveness. I think the author has very good points and does not hesitate to share them. On the other, lacks a certain narrative — it’s pretty like reading a list than a story, and while that can be appealing, I found it a little too didactic and dry and did not finish.

I had quibbles about the writing, but that was just me being difficult. This was the first recommended book on boundary setting that I could get from the library, and it served as quite a good introduction to the topic.

Library copy