SHOCKED : MY MOTHER, SCHIAPARELLI, AND ME
by Patricia Volk

Audrey Morgen Volk (Patricia's mother) was a narcissistic, upper-middle-class New Yorker, a control freak where everything had to be just perfect.
Elsa Schiaparelli (known as Schiap) was an international fashion designer whose creations made the world gasp in shock.
When Patricia was ten years old, she read Schiap's autobiography and it transformed her. Both of these brilliant and opinionated women showed Patricia how to be a woman and to follow her own course.
Shocked  is about a mother-daughter relationship that at times can be excruciating to read. I, at first, thought the book was wonderful because the author is quite a wordsmith. After a while, it started to drive me crazy. You can only take in small doses at a time. The information about Schiaparelli is totally unnecessary and adds nothing. You don't really get a sense of how Patricia was transformed by either woman. As for Patricia's mother, Audrey, you keep reading about how beautiful she was. There are pictures at the end of each chapter and many are of Audrey and she is not beautiful nor pretty.
Too much rambling and not much substance.
Not recommended.