Shocked: My Mother, Schiaparelli, and Me

I loved this book. It is beautifully written, clever, insightful and it proves that daughters and mothers can get along. The authors use of her experience with reading Schiaparelli's book at the age of nine and making it her book of choice is surprisingly wonderful. She laces her views of Elsa Schiaparelli's world with her own life and the life of her mother. She calls her mother the most beautiful woman in the world and she clearly believes it and is humbled by it and yet she is also able to see her mother darker side as well. Ms Volk gives us a daughters perspective on love, relationships and life itself. I recommend this to anyone who has a bit of fashion sense and wonders what it would be like to have had a good relationship with their parents before they turned 35.

A rich, beautiful memoir, the kind whose sumptuous sentences you want to reread, even if they detail a rift between the author and her mother. Volk manages to convey her parents' world of opulence and art and glamour while writing characters who feel as if they are on stage. Her mother, who has a reputation for being "good with money," fans it and "She whispers to it and blows on it." There's both distance and closeness as Volk recalls her family, which makes this a glimpse into how "the other half" live and the behind the scenes sartorial show her mother put on.

engaging account of eccentric mom and boomer-generation daughters as the mom gets older and they grow up. the author has somehat obviously manipulated readers by intertwining her recollections of an interesting (but not extraordinary) mother (wife of wealthy NYC restaurateur) with facts about (the supposedly relevant) schiaparelli. this enables the author to deploy many references to the (maybe) glam '50s high-fashion era and pad out what might otherwise be a less interesting story. it works. lots of pictures. light-weight but pleasant and easy to read, particularly to those of grew up at approximatedly the same time as the author.

I have to say I read this book with mixed emotions, because I think it was written with mixed emotions. First of all, let me praise Ms. Volk for her fluent prose style, her great sense of humor and her marvelous attention to detail. The added feature of photos of artifacts was much appreciated, and quite good for a Kindle edition. She truly brings to life a certain social class in time in NYC. Having said that, it is her portrait of her mother that was not transparent. She clearly presented a monster. In every description, we saw a narcisstic, conditional loving mother, who was under the delusion she was the most beautiful woman in the world. I for one, couldn't see it in the photos. Did Volk do this intentionally? It is a good question, since she waits to the end of the book to mention, almost offhandedly, something her mother did, that should have been considered cause for the intervention of social services. She keeps breathtakingly talking about her mother and how much she loved her mother, and yet, what she shows is the opposite. I am going to conclude that the author is simply unaware of this contradiction. It is possible to desparately love a parent who takes much more than they give. I didn't think the Schiaperelli part of the book was even necessary. Schiaparelli was actually much more predictable, and therefore banal in her eccentricities, than the mother. While the book does not deal with Volk's sister's sensibilities, I get the impression, the sister had her mother's number from the beginning. I still recommend the book, just be prepared for a fascinating psychological profile that the author, because she's too close to the forest to see the trees, doesn't know she is providing, unless she is more clever than I have been able to detect.

I was not at all shocked that I loved this book. I read the author's other memoir, Stuffed, which I loved, and this one did not disappoint. It's darker than Stuffed, with a gradual build to revealing some unpleasant truths about the author's mother, but still compassionate, funny, and engrossing. I learned a lot about the designer Elsa Schiaparelli in the process. The pictures included with each chapter are wonderful.

Really connected with this memoir. You can "see" Volk's writing. She also captures the cultural history of the eras she has lived through. I kept wondering how Elsa Schiaparelli and Volk's mother were connected as I, the reader, alternated between reading about Volk and her family and the life and times of Elsa Schiaparelli. The two stories coalesce to inform us about the formation of Patricia Volk's identity.

This is a wonderful book. Deftly written, entertaining, informative and so heartfelt. The illustrations are just right, too -- adding to the text rather than repeating something already stated.The relationship between the author and her mother is lovingly portrayed, with the mother counterpointed to Else Schapperelli -- very cleverly done, but it doesn't feel clever. It feels brilliant.

i loved the book. It brought back lots of memories from when I was growing up in the new York area in the 50's and 60's. While my mother was really nothing like her mother, I recall many of the same life style rituals...going to a furrier for a must have fur coat, getting discount designer dresses in the garment center, eating out at fancy restaurants, dressing up.I read "stuffed" and love it. I've already recommended the book to several friends.

Loved this book. Well written and details the writer's relationship with her beautiful but seemingly hard hearted mother. Marvellous information about Schiaparelli of whim I knew little but had heard of. This is a must for anyone interested in fashion - find out with Alexander McQueen actually got some of his ideas ! She was an I credible avante Garde designer. Also interesting from the point of view of family relationships. High recommend.

Very nice and original book cover. The book is well written but I do not find it interesting enough... It is missing a little something.