In his latest effort, You Would if You Loved Me, [Sol Gordon] has collected a noxious nosegay of one-liners ostensibly used by boys bent on seduction. Oldies but not goodies, they range from the oily … to the crude…. In some cases Gordon has supplied snappy comebacks for girls ("He: I've been admiring your rear end for weeks. She: Admiring will get you nowhere!").

Far from discouraging the male, this approach is provocative and makes the female a player in the game. An honest "Sorry, I'm not interested" is far kinder. But most of these remarks don't deserve kindness; many are so insulting … that a self-respecting girl could only respond by immediately walking away. (pp. 83, 93)

The author's rationale for perpetrating this witless, repetitive, and grossly sexist collection is that forewarned is forearmed. Although this is a simplistic solution to the problem of teenage pregnancy, it may be true that inexperienced girls might benefit by first encountering these ancient lines in a book rather than in the dark. (p. 93)

Patty Campbell, in her review of "You Would If You Loved Me," in Wilson Library Bulletin (copyright © 1978 by the H. W. Wilson Company), Vol. 53, No. 1, September, 1978, pp. 82-3, 93.∗