Ruth Goodman's guide to Victorian living starts a bit slowly, but she has created a fascinating portrait of life during the reign of Queen Victorian (1837-1901). Her research into everything from the evolution of corsets to the changing height of men's top hats is painstaking and precise.
As she notes frequently, Goodman has not only researched Victorian life, but she has undertaken to live for prolonged periods of time an entirely Victorian life. In this sense, How to Be a Victorian shares a commonality with A.J. Jacobs's Year of Living Biblically, yet Goodman's experiences have a much more authentic feel to them. I don't recall Jacobs sharing recipes for shampoo and toothpaste. At first, I thought the asides about Goodman's experiences wearing the various articles of clothing or working different types of farm equipment were off-putting, but I changed my mind pretty quickly, deciding that her anecdotes provided color commentary, if you will, and brought further life to what could have been a very dry topic.
The book is organized like a day: our Victorian wakes up (cold house), dresses (in roughly 14 layers), uses the toilet (a hand dug outhouse, most likely), sees to breakfast, children and chores (wives and mothers only, of course) or work (here she provides glimpses of both factory and agricultural work), dines further (although all but the very wealthiest Victorians lived in constant hunger), and prepares for bed. Within the framework of a single day, Goodman explores gender roles, fashion, technology and transportation, illness and death, and many other topics. The book is also generously illustrated throughout, providing further assistance to the 21st century reader trying to visualize the difference between early-Victorian and late-Victorian stoves, for example.
Anyone with an interest in Victorian England or simply changes in daily life over the past 200 years should find How to Be a Victorian especially interesting.
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