Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I was really looking forward to reading this book, having read a short review of it on a on a website. How different the reality! Though I did finish it, I could only tolerate it in small doses. Ms. Chrisman is a good writer and has a way with words, it's true, but her contemptuous attitude towards everyone in the book who was not her husband or of any benefit to her was off-putting to the max. I was particularly offended by her classification of a bus driver who attempted to help her and accidentally unraveled an already loose petticoat ruffle as "a low class southern brute"- she prattles on ad infinitum about her poor abused petticoat having been manhandled, as if the driver recognized her clothing as antique and maliciously decided to destroy it, rather than just trying to help her on the bus. This same petticoat she refers to as one she purchased for herself "for learning to walk again" (NOT!) after having to recuperate from a broken foot for a mere six weeks, part of which time she spent walking in a supportive orthopedic boot. Reading this, I was outraged for everyone who has experienced a genuinely traumatic injury and has had to spend months or years in physical therapy truly learning to walk again. She downs doctors, the healthcare profession in general, people who have misconceptions about corsetry, people who don't dress according to her high standards of historical accuracy, people who may or may not be staring at her in coffee shops, a party hostess that has an unfortunate moment of inattention, and on and on. She has hardly anything good to say about anyone, excluding her husband and and a few people who flatter her. It just became downright tiresome to read all that vitriol. This would have been a delightful read if Ms Chrisman had stuck to her experience learning to wear her corset, debunking the myths about corseting, and imparting details about Victorian clothing. That's what I really wanted to know. As it is written, she comes across as alternately spoiled, condescending, self righteously preachy, and self pitying. My (no doubt unappreciated) advice to Ms. Chrisman: Develop a little empathy for others before you write another book. It will make your life happier and your writing voice stronger.