Women on Men by Liza Donnelly. Publisher: Narrative Library (November 2013).

Witty and thoughtful, this savvy collection of comics examines how women perceive men. Whether it’s dating, long-term relationships, sex or work, Liza Donnelly cleverly satirizes and provides social commentary on gender differences through her comics. Her work reflects women’s increasingly changing roles, growing political and executive power and decreased expectations that a woman be the domestic center to a marriage or relationship. Donnelly uses political and cultural references to keep her work fresh and supercharged. Readers will recognize scenes that we all find ourselves in at one time or another. Or wish we would. Or maybe hope we never do. Those cocktail party moments. The bad date rehashing with a girlfriend. Lamenting a divorce over drinks. Wishing you’d said just the right thing to that arrogant guy. Donnelly’s got you covered in this brilliant book that’s perfect for a gift, for the coffee-table or as a bedside read.

Donnelly divides the book into various sections including:

On Dating

There’s a cartoon with a couple on a date: “I love the idea of you. But not you.”
One woman says to another: “I’ve dated eleven enigmas. I want an open book.”

Men’s Body Parts

A woman to a muscle-bound guy: “It appears you have worked on just about everything, except your personality.”
A woman tells another while her guy grills: “His body is fifty, his mind is thirty, and his penis is thirteen.”

Standing by his Liverwurst

Donnelly explains: “But even in a long-term relationship (and I would characterize marriage that way), you sometimes have to put up with all kinds of shit you wish you didn’t. There are levels of shit that can be tolerated, and levels that cannot.”

A woman sits at the computer and says: “You know that I love you, even though I don’t retweet you, right?”

Blame the Economy

Donnelly writes: “It’s true, we women are wired differently. Men think about sex all the time, and women think about it when it starts happening. Men undress women, women redress men.”

A couple sits at dinner: “I can’t decide if I love you for what you’ve done, what you haven’t done, or what you possibly will do.”

Being Toast

Donnelly explains: “Everyone knows that when you combine ego, politics and power, put them in a man, and shake you get a potentially toxic cocktail. These men start mixing sex into the cocktail and inevitably their genitals become the stirrer. Okay, a stupid metaphor but you know it’s true.”

A couple is shown in bed: “I don’t see this lasting much longer than a news cycle.”

RATING: *****/5

–review by Amy Steele

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for review from the publisher.

available at Amazon for Kindle: Women on Men

also purchase the book here