The sous titre on the cover of this book reads: "Breaking the Rules to Get What You Want in Love, Life, and Work." The book is aimed at women in their 20's and early 30's, and it goes over several common "expectations" of what women at that age are supposed to do in life, such as "Get a Man" and "Have a Career." However, I had a difficult time identifying where or when the case studies in the book were "breaking the rules" as the subtitle suggests.

Each chapter of the book is devoted to a particular expectation and gives the reader three case studies of women who have been faced with those expectations. In every case, no matter what Miss Case Study chooses to call it, the woman is faced with what the author boils down to "self-doubt" about her life: what she should do, what she really wants. The whole goal of Who Cares What You're Supposed to Do? seems to be to get women who are stuck in a rut to stop and think about where they are and how to get moving again.

Despite the rebellious title, I didn't find this book to be particularly ground-breaking as far as "life tactics" go. Each expectation is given the same basic treatment. The women are told to:

1) name the problem ("self-doubt" or "second-guessing" or whatever each woman feels she is struggling with)

2) understand and challenge the expectation--this seemed a bit hazy to me, as I couldn't quite figure out how/when the women were challenging anything except maybe themselves

3) connect to values and beliefs

4) seek allies against self-doubt (in other words, talk to Mom, or friends, or siblings/significant others about how you feel)

While I could certainly relate to many of the expectations presented, and while this book did give me pause to think about some of the decisions I've made and why I may have made them, I did find a few flaws. For example, in the chapter on the expectation to "Get a Man," there was no case study in which one of the women decided she'd rather not get a man. The book took the side of believing that, for the most part, every woman wants a man (well, one of the girls was a lesbian) and will eventually find one. Also, in the chapter on the expectation to "Have a Career," there was no alternative offered in which a woman might decide that she would rather stay home and raise the kids.