Take a photo of a barcode or cover
ghost_of_the_library 's review for:
Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners
by Therese Oneill
Well i have to admit i totally went into this one not knowing what to expect, trusting only the cover and its unusual tittle and, perhaps on account of that, ended up LOL at a good deal of the book and the way the author presents women's life in Victorian times.
The reviews here are quite mixed, and perhaps not everyone will agree with me, but i don't think this was meant to be considered a serious, scholarly book on women and gender studies and its evolution throughout the last say 150 years - there's plenty of those out there!
Basically what the author does is assume most of us modern ladies have a Hollywood induced longing for the times of good old Queen V and slap us in the face with some very realistic examples, sometimes successfully disguised thanks to the sarcasm/snarkiness? that drips from these pages, to illustrate just exactly how hard those times were for the female gender.
Although this is called Victorian Lady's guide, which would make most of us readers assume its strictly about Victorian England, she ends up giving us a good chunk of information/humor concerning american women in that same time frame.
I have researched zero on the author, have no idea of her background, so apologies in advance - if she's a feminist, i'm guessing yes, then at times her feminism feels a little too "intense' almost as if she despises any women who look fondly to the good old days of female subservience to hubby as the good old days when everything in the world was simple and right.
However, given the tittle, i went into this determined to read it pretty much like i read Eleanor Herman's SEX WITH KINGS and SEX WITH THE QUEEN ...with a huge bag of salt and some background on the topic....and that meant i ended up having some fun!
So, especially for those of you with high predisposition towards sarcasm...i would recommend at least giving it a try.
Happy Readings!
The reviews here are quite mixed, and perhaps not everyone will agree with me, but i don't think this was meant to be considered a serious, scholarly book on women and gender studies and its evolution throughout the last say 150 years - there's plenty of those out there!
Basically what the author does is assume most of us modern ladies have a Hollywood induced longing for the times of good old Queen V and slap us in the face with some very realistic examples, sometimes successfully disguised thanks to the sarcasm/snarkiness? that drips from these pages, to illustrate just exactly how hard those times were for the female gender.
Although this is called Victorian Lady's guide, which would make most of us readers assume its strictly about Victorian England, she ends up giving us a good chunk of information/humor concerning american women in that same time frame.
I have researched zero on the author, have no idea of her background, so apologies in advance - if she's a feminist, i'm guessing yes, then at times her feminism feels a little too "intense' almost as if she despises any women who look fondly to the good old days of female subservience to hubby as the good old days when everything in the world was simple and right.
However, given the tittle, i went into this determined to read it pretty much like i read Eleanor Herman's SEX WITH KINGS and SEX WITH THE QUEEN ...with a huge bag of salt and some background on the topic....and that meant i ended up having some fun!
So, especially for those of you with high predisposition towards sarcasm...i would recommend at least giving it a try.
Happy Readings!