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wordsofclover 's review for:
I received this book from the publishers/author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Trailblazing Women of the Georgian Era: The Eighteenth-Century Struggle for Female Success in a Man's World is a non-fiction novel that is a collection of life stories about different women who made a difference despite living in a generation that believed women were only good in the home.
I was pretty excited to read this. I've read similar types of books in the recent past to do with collections of pretty cool women who I had never heard of before and I was looking forward to expanding my knowledge but this book unfortunately fell completely flat for me.
I think, for me, this book was lacking in personality - there was no sense of fun or wonder in the writing which I have enjoyed with previous collections. Everything was told very matter of fact but almost too matter of fact. I don't think the author helped himself by starting out the book with a really boring chapter about the law at the times regarding women, their freedom and the restrictions they were under regarding property, marriage and business. I feel like anyone going into a book about the Georgian era would have a basic knowledge of this already and I don't think such an extensive chapter was needed. It immediately put me off.
I also didn't understand why there was so much mention of the men in these women's lives? I understand that obviously for some women they needed help from their menfolk because of the restrictions in their lives but there were times when the woman's tale would completely tail off and the author would start updating us about the man and I didn't care one bit. If I wanted to be reading about these men, I wouldn't have picked up a book about trailblazing women.
I do think some of my problems with this book also stem from the fact that I generally prefer books written about women BY women. I feel like if a female author had sat down to the same as what Mike Rendell tried to do with this one, it would have been a lot more engaging and a deeper understanding of these women would have come across. And there would have been less emphasize on the men.
Trailblazing Women of the Georgian Era: The Eighteenth-Century Struggle for Female Success in a Man's World is a non-fiction novel that is a collection of life stories about different women who made a difference despite living in a generation that believed women were only good in the home.
I was pretty excited to read this. I've read similar types of books in the recent past to do with collections of pretty cool women who I had never heard of before and I was looking forward to expanding my knowledge but this book unfortunately fell completely flat for me.
I think, for me, this book was lacking in personality - there was no sense of fun or wonder in the writing which I have enjoyed with previous collections. Everything was told very matter of fact but almost too matter of fact. I don't think the author helped himself by starting out the book with a really boring chapter about the law at the times regarding women, their freedom and the restrictions they were under regarding property, marriage and business. I feel like anyone going into a book about the Georgian era would have a basic knowledge of this already and I don't think such an extensive chapter was needed. It immediately put me off.
I also didn't understand why there was so much mention of the men in these women's lives? I understand that obviously for some women they needed help from their menfolk because of the restrictions in their lives but there were times when the woman's tale would completely tail off and the author would start updating us about the man and I didn't care one bit. If I wanted to be reading about these men, I wouldn't have picked up a book about trailblazing women.
I do think some of my problems with this book also stem from the fact that I generally prefer books written about women BY women. I feel like if a female author had sat down to the same as what Mike Rendell tried to do with this one, it would have been a lot more engaging and a deeper understanding of these women would have come across. And there would have been less emphasize on the men.