The Most Important Year in a Man’s (or Woman’s) Life

reviewed by   T. C. Pinckney                                                                                                                     Vol. XVII, No. 3, March 2004

Robert Wolgemuth & Mark Devries / Susan Devries & Bobbie Wolgemuth, Zondervan, 2003.

This (these) is (are) one (two) of the most helpful and innovative book(s) I have read. Let me explain.

Though in one hard cover, there are really two separate books. On one cover the reader sees The Most Important Year in a Man’s Life, What Every Groom Needs to Know. Turning to the other cover you read, The Most Important Year in a Woman’s Life, What Every Bride Needs to Know. Start reading either book and when you finish it in the middle of the volume, you find that the companion text is upside down to what you’ve been reading.

The Wolgemuths and DeVries, friends for decades, have divided the writing of these books with the two husbands authoring the “Man’s Life” half and the two wives writing the “Woman’s Life” portion. Of course there was a lot of coordination. Example: Each book has twelve chapters, and both books have the same theme for parallel chapters: the most important year, needs, spiritual unity, family of origin, roles, talk, friendship, conflict, money, sex, in-laws, and help.

The book is punctuated with brief but engaging true-life anecdotes which make for interesting and easy reading. But serious, vital principles of successful Christian marriages are brought to life by those techniques. Illustration: Have you ever thought about the preconceptions everyone brings to a marriage? We naturally and subconsciously assume that what we have experienced in our parents’ families is “normal”. It’s what we know, what we’re used to. But no two families are exactly alike, and often what is normal for the bride is anything but normal for her groom and vice versa. Want to avoid misunderstandings and hurts that often result from the clash of variant “normals”? Read and apply both chapters four.

A wonderful gift for engaged and newly married couples, this book also has a lot to offer husbands and wives who have long been married. Try it. You’ll like it.