Mademoiselle Chanel

I didn't know anything about Coco Chanel before reading this book. I found the book interesting and would think of Chanel as a complicated but interesting person if I took the book at face value. She owned her sexuality. She was unapologetically ambitious. She was a visionary. Unfortunately, she was also a Nazi collaborator and an anti-Semite. The book would have you believe that she wasn't really anti-Semitic, despite her string of anti-Semitic lovers, German lovers, financial baking of an anti-Semitic magazine and use of Nazi laws to try and oust the Jewish owners of her perfume company. I takes a lot of twisting to ignore all these facts. I think this is a much more interesting book if you don't ignore the uncomfortable parts of Chanel's character.

The best I can say about this book is that it was so obviously glossing over the truth that I was compelled to look for more information. Even a quick internet search found a lot. It's a shame. I like Gortners writing style, he's a good storyteller. But if you're telling stories about historical figures, you should try to keep closer to the truth.