Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: Don't buy this book!

What a waste! I agree with the other reviewers. This book might be of some (limited) benefit in dealing with verbal jabs from people with whom you have limited contact or limited emotional investment. But, her assertion that these techniques will defuse all but the most egregious verbal abusers is so absurd that it makes me wonder if she's ever been in the same room with one. Don't waste your time or money. A MUCH BETTER option would be Patricia Evans' "The Verbally Abusive Relationship." Evans addresses the problem, from why it happens to how to recognize it to what you can and can not do about it. Elgin tries to create a Pollyanna world where the abuser will respond logically and like a "sane" human being. If that were the case, you wouldn't be considering this book in the first place.