Disclaimer: I received this book for review from the publisher Thomas Nelson via their Book Review Blogger program. I plan to donate it to our local library. (FTC, you happy now?)
Rick & Bubba’s Guide to the Almost Nearly Perfect Marriage
by Rick Burgess & Bill “Bubba” Bussey (with Martha Bolton)
I finished reading this book a month ago but have delayed writing this review. I’ve been trying to decide what I want to say about it. I’ll admit that, until reading this book and listening to a few clips from the included CD, I’d never heard of Rick Burgess or Bubba Bussey or their Rick & Bubba radio show.
My rating is three stars. I’d considered giving it only two stars but decided that was more a reflection of my own personal bias than a realistic appraisal of the book itself. The book is available in both paperback and Kindle editions.
I actually asked for this book because I really wanted to like it. The description sounded like a good read and a worthwhile addition to the innumerable library of marital advice books already on the market.
Maybe the problem is that I’m just not part of the target market for the book. I listened to a few of the radio show clips on the included “Best of” CD. It elicited a brief smile once or twice…but never an actual laugh, or even a chuckle. I’m just not a fan of the “good ol’ Southern boy” approach to humor. Give me Bill Cosby any day. My wife and I will have been married for 41 years next month. Despite economic and other ups and downs, we are still happily married and enjoy each other’s company.
It is refreshing to read a book of this type that is unabashedly Christian-centered. Of course, that’s to be expected with a book from the country’s largest Christian publisher. With chapters with titles like “Love and Debit Cards,” “Annoying Habits,” Teamwork,” “Is There a Helpmate in the House?” and “R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” you can get the general drift — suggestions for weathering the difficulties of living side-by-side with another human being for years delivered with humor. Unfortunately, most of the humor borders on sophomoric, even when used to illuminate an important, serious point.
For example, Rick admonishes husbands to “walk worthy of your wives’ respect” and urges wives to “live worth of a love so great that your husbands would give themselves for it.” Fair enough, but then he adds a long chart with too many silly examples intended to contrast “shows respect” with “shows a lack of respect” — such as “letting your husband drive” vs “having your husband sit in the backseat.” I’ll let you figure out which one is under the “shows respect” column.
Overall, Rick & Bubba’s Guide contains useful suggestions for relative newlyweds (these days, I consider somebody a newlywed if they’ve been married less than 20 years…it’s a matter of perspective). The advice is grounded in the Ten Commandants and based on many other Biblical injunctions, and that’s a good thing. And presenting that advice with humor is also a good thing, as a sense of humor is important in marriage. But it would have been far better if their humor had been more, well, mature.
There’s just something wrong with presenting serious advice for adults using sophomoric humor. And that’s why I can only give it three stars.
