池莉《不談愛情》一書包含〈一去永不回〉、〈不談愛情〉、〈煩惱人生〉三篇中篇小說。這三篇小說分開來看，是各自獨立、自成首尾；合起來看，也可視為一個整體，代表了「人生三階段」，分別是戀愛結婚期、新婚調適期以及婚後育兒期－人生的三個過程。這三個故事中的男女主角，雖然各自都遭受到不同程度大大小小的煩惱與困難，但最後都能找到自我解脫之道。書中的男性形象大致偏向於黯淡被動、委瑣窩囊；女性形象則顯得活潑有勁、積極進取。池莉身為女性作家，對同性問題必有較為深刻的體會與感受，在描繪這些女子時，或多或少反射了作者的心理狀態和期望，具有濃厚的「女性意識」。

In Chili's "Butanaiqing", it includes three medium-lengthed novels, "Yiquyongbuhui, Butanaiqing", and "Fannaorensheng". These three novels can be read separately, each independent and unique, and can be read synthetically, representing an organic life of three stages from the periods of the love time, to the newly-married adjustment, and then to the mothering time. The male or the female protagonists in the three novels, though suffer various challenges or depressions, can finally free themselves from the intriguing life. However, the male characters tend to act as the passive good-for-nothing; contrastively, the female characters appear to be quite aggressive or dynamic. It therefore can be suggested that Chili, the author, as a female writer, shows her deep sympathy and empathy toward her female protagonists by her female concerns which reflect her psychological attitudes and expectation.