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A review by grauspitz
Inventing the Victorians by Matthew Sweet
Did not finish book. Stopped at 27%.
This just isn't worth my time. Not only does the author not bother defining the scope of the book, such as what years fall within the Victorian period (I had initially assumed he'd stop at 1914 but then he goes and examines works from the 1920s and calls them Victorian) or what countries he's going to focus on, but he doesn't really have a central argument beyond "look at all these cultural things from the Victorian period." He also doesn't really attempt to connect any of the examples he uses and just jumps from one vaguely similar topic to another.
I had also hoped that the author would spend a bit of time examining how, where and why these stereotypes about the Victorian period emerged but it seems like that topic is only mentioned in the introduction.
From what I've seen in other reviews, I will have similar qualms with the rest of the book so I'm just going to put it down now instead of pressing on. I just don't care enough about the Victorian period to want to read a book that can essentially be boiled down to a bunch of amusing anecedotes about the Victorian period that are vaguely connected to each other.
I had also hoped that the author would spend a bit of time examining how, where and why these stereotypes about the Victorian period emerged but it seems like that topic is only mentioned in the introduction.
From what I've seen in other reviews, I will have similar qualms with the rest of the book so I'm just going to put it down now instead of pressing on. I just don't care enough about the Victorian period to want to read a book that can essentially be boiled down to a bunch of amusing anecedotes about the Victorian period that are vaguely connected to each other.