Therese Oneill

Have you ever wished you could live in an earlier, more romantic era? Ladies, welcome to the 19th century, where there's arsenic in your face cream, a pot of cold pee sits under your bed, and all of your underwear is crotchless. (Why? Shush, dear. A lady doesn't question.) UNMENTIONABLE is your hilarious, illustrated, scandalously honest (yet never crass) guide to the secrets of Victorian womanhood, giving you detailed advice on: ~ What to wear ~ Where to relieve yourself ~ How to conceal your loathsome addiction to menstruating ~ What to expect on your wedding night ~ How to be the perfect Victorian wife ~ Why masturbating will kill you ~ And more Irresistibly charming, laugh-out-loud funny, and featuring nearly 200 images from Victorian publications, UNMENTIONABLE will inspire a whole new level of respect for Elizabeth Bennett, Scarlet O'Hara, Jane Eyre, and all of our great, great grandmothers. (And it just might leave you feeling ecstatically grateful to live in an age of pants, super absorbency tampons, epidurals, anti-depressants, and not-dying-of-the-syphilis-your-husband-brought-home.)

The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners

Unmentionable

Erin Darlyn

Rating: 2 stars of 5

Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady’s Guide to Sex, Marriage and Manners, is a hilarious commentary on how women were viewed, treated and expected to behave during the Victorian period. It’s written as a sort of satire and pokes fun at the ridiculousness of the antiquated ideas that were prevalent amongst the source materials the author used.

The book focuses largely on advertisements, books and other published materials from the era. At times, these are laughably absurd and at other times, infuriating. The most amusing samples, perhaps, are some of those written by male physicians of the time, who apparently had no clue what they were talking about when it came to female physiology or psychology. One of the ideas a male doctor put forth in one of the latter chapters had me laughing so hard I was crying as I was trying to read the passage aloud to my husband.

Whilst entertaining, there were a few things I did not like about the book. There are some inaccuracies throughout. If you are looking for a comprehensive, historically accurate read, I would not recommend this book as your best option. Something by Ruth Goodman, perhaps, would be better. Her book, How to Be a Victorian, is good. 

The irreverent tone in which the book is written is occasionally off-putting in the beginning but the sarcasm becomes quite grating as the book goes on. Whilst funny at first, it really got old after awhile.

There are some sections that can be quite triggering. I would recommend skipping the chapter on diet altogether if you would find irreverent discussions of weight and weight loss troubling. The way that chapter is presented is appalling, and it isn’t entirely the fault of the source material. The author contributes to it as well. 

Overall, it was an amusing, though not altogether enjoyable, read. I wouldn’t not recommend it, but I also would not purchase any copies to give away and I will not be keeping my copy in my library.

A scandalously honest guide to the secrets of Victorian womanhood. "If Unmentionable does not secure the Pulitzer Prize for Most Fascinating Book Ever, the whole gig is rigged. Therese Oneill opens the doors to everything we secretly wanted to know about the Victorian era, but didn't think to ask. Knickers with no crotches? Check. Arsenic as a facial scrub? Check. The infrequency of bathing and the stench of the Victorian human body? Check mate. "Hilarious, horrifying, shocking and revelatory, Unmentionable is for every girl who pictured herself running through a field of wildflowers in a silk dress and Little House on the Prairie boots, only to discover she has nits in her hair, her clothes have never been washed and she sleeps with her poop under her bed in a bowl. A miracle of a book and one of my favorite reads ever, Unmentionable will be my go-to gift this year. All hail Therese Oneill for uncovering all of that dirty, dirty laundry." -- Laurie Notaro, #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Looked Different on the Model and Housebroken

Shona Tiger

Very amusing/quite entertaining, although a bit tiresome by the end. Worth reading!

Emir Andrés Ibañez

Esto sí que fue un viaje. Un tanto asqueroso e indignante, sí, pero buen viaje al fin. El humor de la autora lo hace muy llevadero y siento que aprendí muchísimo, pero hasta ahí nomás. Le puse en 3/5 porque siento que la autora ridiculiza demasiado la época y no sé qué tanto puedo fiarme de eso, como alguien que conoce poco de esa era. De todos modos es una lectura agradable y divertida.

Olivera Mitić

Woah, was this obnoxious or what? 

Really hated the narrator and the tone she had while presenting all of the information. Also, I felt like I didn't get too much out of it. Like, sure, I didn't really know how many layers the women wore or how badly were they treated in certain situations, but knowing at least a bit about the Victorian era makes me kinda able to guess. 

So yeah, I don't get the hype this book got, and it definitely wasn't that funny.

Chelsea Breher

Hil-fucking-larious. Listened to the audio book while. Packing today and it was simply hilarious.

Unmentionable The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners

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