Captivating: Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul

As requested, I've decided to review the "book" Captivating, by husband and wife team, John and Staci Elderidge. Just how much of this book actually comes from Staci, and how much she was forced to write by her chauvinist husband is unclear. But she's credited on the book jacket. I guess that's worth something.Well, where to begin? How about with the book's premise: we women, like Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella, are waiting for a man to rescue us from our sad-sack, self-esteemless lives. How does [...]

Dear Whomever May Be Concerned,Today I started my girlfriend's favorite book Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge. There are three things that I have learned in the past two hours of reading and thinking. #1 Emily is an amazing girl and I'm pretty much the luckiest guy on Earth to have her. #2 Guys suck at understanding girls. Being one of those guys who thought he understood girls in high school (arrogance is quite embarrassing) I just would like to say to every guy out there. "WE SUCK AT UND [...]

I have continued to read this book, against my better judgment, and I have become increasingly uncomfortable with it. Not only does it heighten your emotions in order to incite a reaction, it has taken scripture reserved for Israel and applied it to me. That is ludicrous. Also, as an editing side note, when referring to any member of the Trinity in second or third person, it should be CAPITALIZED!! Oh and the audacity to ask God to show me how He loves me, come on! The question should be how hav [...]

I avoided reading this book for over two years now because I always thought it was going to be a fluffy girly book. But it surprised me.I really enjoyed reading it. When someone makes fun of this book, he/she are almost always referring to the part where Staci Elderidge talks about the three things that women desire--I can't even remember them all buteveryone makes this book sound fluffy. But really, the heart of this book is talking about why we have such extreme womenwe have "rollercoaster emo [...]

This is just as bad as the male version Wild at Heart.This quote from the summary says it all really:The message of "Captivating" is this: Your heart matters more than anything else in all creation. The desires you had as a little girl and the longings you still feel are telling you of the life God created you to live. He offers to rescue your heart and release you to live as a fully alive and feminine woman. A woman who is truly captivating. I don't agree with any of it and this is definitely n [...]

I could not get through this book. The authors are blatantly ignorant of things they pretend they are experts on- such as art. When they talk about Adam doing the action and Eve standing around, they obviously failed to look at all into history. They insist that the tone of these pieces they refer to transcend boundaries of culture, but all of the art they're referring to is Catholic and European. They really needed to study art history and the concept of the male gaze before making sweeping gen [...]

I'm no woman, and so I have to take all of the "you" statements in the book as "women" statements. But still, I think this book is insightful, and it helps to provide some biblical justification for many of the misunderstood characteristics, needs, and longings of many women. If you're a man, read it only if you have a woman you can talk to about it. Ask her questions. Tell her what confuses you. Tell her what makes sense. She'll enjoy it, especially if she's your "special lady."This book, so fa [...]

This book came highly recommended by a few friends and a myriad of strangers who had rated the book online. I did my best to give it a chance and to read it with an open mind. Although I made it all the way through, I gritted my teeth almost the entire time.Countless bad (and also secular) movie references aside, this book was filled with cliché after cliché about girls' dreams of being fairy tale princesses and the message that women are damsels in distress who need to be rescued by a man. Jo [...]

So, I just read this today and at first, I liked it. The author seemed to embrace the ideas of women as a companion, as beautiful etc. It seemed to embrace femininity in a way that was refreshing and lively - basically, she didn't seem stodgy and repressive. But really although there were random quotes i liked etc, she bases her "truths" on movie quotes, movie examples, scripture taken out of context, and a lot of personal experiencei mean, i wanted to like it. I feel like, someone should write [...]

This book is a grotesque misinterpretation of femininity. It reinforces paradigms ages old that a woman’s place is upon a pedestal, and that beauty – whether in her canoeing skills or her ball gown – is her essence. It negates the need to dabble on the hearts of wild, wilful, untameable women, simply decreeing that if you’re of that ilk, you’re broken, desolate and lost.Seduction, within a “Christian” sense, plagues this book; Women are to be pretty and needy and petty in the makin [...]

For every ten pages of lucidity and helpful ideas there's a hundred of horrifically shallow spirituality, Hollywood fluff worship, and truly absurd concepts of gender roles. Long review coming soon. Alas, books of this sort are assumed to be holy, and might be very damaging to the wrong reader at the wrong time.

I was recommended this book by my twin sister. I wasnt exactly excited about reading it. However, once I started I couldn't put it down. Captivating isn't a self-help book, or a sermon; far from either. Instead, Captivating is a book about discovery. It sheds light into the areas of a woman's heart most people would dare not even look and gives the reader permission to heal wounds that one didn't even know were there. This book changed my life forever. All it took was the first page and I was ho [...]

I'm just not connecting with this book. It comes off smug in my opinion, completely lacking the humility and honor I would expect in a book written for women who love the Lord. I've been tempted to put it down several times, but I'm trying to continue to read it with an "open mind".Ok, 2 weeks later, I'm done trying now. I just can't read any more of it, the more I read the more irritated I get. There are too many good books out there to be wasting my time on this one. I got almost 1/2 way throu [...]

This book restores my soul. As a woman it is too easy to become trapped & enamored by what this world deems "beautiful" & "worthy." I, too, have followed the empty train headed towards a wasteland of so called redemption--in hot pursuit of the shoes i simply MUST have--the makeup that promises to transform me--the sparkly adornments designed to make me stand out & shine! A refreshing reminder that there is more to a woman than meets the eye & our beauty has everything to do with [...]

This book was given to me by my mom, after she had read it. It took me a while to get into the right mindset to have the patience to read it; however, when I did what a jewel I found - not only in the book, but in myself as well. The book is filled with metaphors and analogies that at first I found it hard to identify with because I was, as the book refers to, a woman striving and busying myself with all the worldly mundane tasks of life. I didn't "have time" for this flowery mumbo-jumbo! A woma [...]

This book is based on opinion and tradition, not the word of God. Which is fine, unless it's trying to pass off as some kind of Biblical book.Which sadly, it is.The only thing worse, is women everywhere are reading it and accepting it as TRUTH as opposed to reading it and testing it to what they know about their faith and what the Bible says AND DOESN'T say about women and gender. Pathetically, this is how the cycle continues.

READ WITH SCRUTINY AND DISCERNMENT, but know you can take good things.Interesting. Loaded with cultural outlooks.Talking with others I've decided I liked it because I could relate with it, but I don't think a girl who grew up in a different place could relate to it.

Now, I give this a 3-star rating because I do not have the option of a 3.5, and it is not quite worthy of a 4-star rating. It is a great book - or course, for women. Having already read "Wild At Heart" and impacted by it, I decided to read "Captivating" while my girlfriend read "Wild At Heart". We wanted to better understand one another, and one another's gender more."Captivating" is a copy-and-pasted version of "Wild At Heart". They quote the majority of the same movies (mostly men's movies, at [...]

I'm not a big fan of "self-help" books like this, but a good friend said she kept thinking of me as she read it, so I picked it up. I read the first two chapters last night and it has a lot of good things to say!After finishing, I can honestly say that this is one of the best books I've ever read about being a woman and how women were created and understanding the soul of women. I'm blown away. I think every woman needs to read this book (18 is a good point, or 16 for those who are mature enough [...]

UPDATE: When I read this book, I was a college student very much a part of the evangelical "purity" culture. I had been homeschooled and isolated from my peers. I had never dated because I didn't interact with boys my age and I never asked to date because that's not what "good girls did". I felt fat and ugly. I went straight from classes home because that's what my parents expected of me. I didn't do anything wrong - I didn't party, I didn't drink, I didn't smoke, I didn't even go out with frien [...]

It's over!!! She had to have one parting shot at "emasculating" women(*eye roll*) But mostly I'm just glad it's over. Let me be clear, there ARE some REALLY good parts of this book. But I can't think of a single one of those parts you can't find elsewhere in Christian literature. So I would suggest skipping this one and moving on to something that's not entirely gender essentialist and sometimes misogynist. I posted chapter by chapter statuses if you are interested but essentially the main point [...]

The best thing this book did for me was to remind me of how great my childhood was and to give me a glimpse into the lives of women who didn't have the same kind of childhood as I did. There is one chapter that starts out talking about a little girl's dream birthday (the girl was even named Carrie). It pretty much described how I aways felt on my birthday as a little girl - at that point, I realized that this book was maybe not directed at me. I often felt like I already have what the author and [...]

One of my friends recommended this book to me. It's a faith-based book. I was weary, but luckily it turned out to be Christian without being "here are the 12 rules to follow to be a good service provider to men." Let's just say it made me rethink my whole "cold bitch" lifestyle. I would recommend it to some of the women studio execs I've known.

I think I was expecting something a little different from this book when I picked it up, than what I actually received in reading it. Overall, I guess I'd have to say it was a disappointment -- but one with some glimmers of good stuff that touched my heart.The book began with a look at womanhood through exploring Eve and various female archetypes through history and literature. Funny thing is, I couldn't really get into it at first. It was a discipline to push myself through the first couple of [...]

This book is absolutely amazing! One of my guy friends didn't like it so much--maybe too soft--however you can interpret that wordbut I think it's great! It talks about a woman's journey in this world- but in a greater, purposeful perspective. It has elements of romance, adventure, childhood, and more. :) This is a look at how God made women unique and wonderful-in His own image (not that He's a girl). Our beauty reflects the glory of God. Our life is a tale of how the enemy tries to destroy us [...]

A room painted bubblegum pink, with floral border wallpaper, sporting an immense collection of plastic unicorns is the best way to imagine the tone of "Captivating." It is written by a husband and wife team. I hate it when men try to divulge the secrets of the woman's heart to women, but the wifes commentary was even more repugnant (maybe because she should know better). The premise of the book was worthy, but ended up completely botched by the authors.

It wasn't so captivating.

I really enjoyed this book, but with some caveats. This really made you look at God and Jesus in a different light, and it made me ponder things I never did before (especially about Adam and Eve). I also liked how blunt the authors were about certain issues like the role of women in the church (regardless of the denomination you subscribe to). One thing I didn't like was how Stasi broad-brushed women as little girls who twirled their skirts and dreamed of being princesses, put mommy's pearls and [...]

I was not a fan of this book. Eldredge took her individual experience, expanded it to encompass every woman's experience, and then infused it with some piety. I set it down after she waned theological (badly) on why women shouldn't do sports (REAL women desire to be at rest!), then later complained about her weight. It came across as petty in a pious disguise: the Christian edition of rude accusations that fit women are not truly feminine.In all, the book relied exclusively on post-19th century [...]

This is not a book I would normally buy or read. In fact, I received it as a Christmas gift from my daughter. In looking over the reviews of friends I see that my more theologically minded friends did not like the book. I was not inclined at all to like it because I had hated John Eldridge's Sacred Marriage. But I am a woman who mostly lives and deals with men and because of that I think this book did speak to my heart. No one in my life is trying to force me into some outdated mode but it is so [...]