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A review by booksnsocks
What Would Boudicca Do?: Everyday Problems Solved by History's Most Remarkable Women by Elizabeth Foley
3.0
3,5 stars
I really liked the idea behind this book, advice based on the lives of strong women, but I wasn't impressed with the execution. It's really cool that they chose both well-known and lesser-known women (and also not just women), I'll give them that, and it was also cool that they sometimes mentioned that the women weren't all that great and inspiring, but that there were some problematic aspects to their lives as well. (I do wish they'd also mentioned Coco Chanel's anti-semitic outbursts and Queen Victoria's being against feminism.) What bothered me most was the writing style. The authors tried a bit too hard to be cool and hip with their language use, which made some passages a bit awkward and uncomfortable to read. I got kind of used to the language after a while, but I believe a mention of Five Shades of Grey shook me out of it again. If I remember correctly, that book even got mentioned twice. For no good reason, really. Anyways, I also thought that some of the advice was a bit silly, like how Queen Victoria is an inspiration on how to get over loss. I mean, she dressed in black for the rest of her life after her husband died. It's all very romantic, I guess, but it might not be a very healthy way of grieving? I don't even know. Some of the advice was just a bit far-fetched. While I probably won't take this book out again for its advice, I might read some chapters again for the description of the women's lives, because some lives really interesting and inspiring.
I really liked the idea behind this book, advice based on the lives of strong women, but I wasn't impressed with the execution. It's really cool that they chose both well-known and lesser-known women (and also not just women), I'll give them that, and it was also cool that they sometimes mentioned that the women weren't all that great and inspiring, but that there were some problematic aspects to their lives as well. (I do wish they'd also mentioned Coco Chanel's anti-semitic outbursts and Queen Victoria's being against feminism.) What bothered me most was the writing style. The authors tried a bit too hard to be cool and hip with their language use, which made some passages a bit awkward and uncomfortable to read. I got kind of used to the language after a while, but I believe a mention of Five Shades of Grey shook me out of it again. If I remember correctly, that book even got mentioned twice. For no good reason, really. Anyways, I also thought that some of the advice was a bit silly, like how Queen Victoria is an inspiration on how to get over loss. I mean, she dressed in black for the rest of her life after her husband died. It's all very romantic, I guess, but it might not be a very healthy way of grieving? I don't even know. Some of the advice was just a bit far-fetched. While I probably won't take this book out again for its advice, I might read some chapters again for the description of the women's lives, because some lives really interesting and inspiring.