ashleynestlermsw's review against another edition
5.0
I love Coco Chanel. She is one of my idols and this book gave a quick history of her life as well as what some of her views were. It's a nice little coffee table read.
brinnet's review against another edition
3.0
A good overall view of Chanel's life with "life lessons" (some tongue in cheek, some not) thrown in throughout. This book would have been stronger if either the story of Chanel or the lessons took center stage, but instead it wandered back and forth between the two, never making the focus of the book clear. With that said, Karen Karbo has a sometimes-irreverent tone that keeps the book a fun read. I'm taking her list of books in the "Acknowledgements" section and adding most of them to my "to read" list. I'm not sure I'd recommend this book to a friend, but I didn't consider it a waste of my time reading it, either.
jewelledfrog's review against another edition
4.0
A little dry in places and she tends to veer off on tangents, but it kept my attention to the extent that I read it all in one sitting. Overall, an interesting read about a fascinating woman.
linneak's review against another edition
4.0
I've always been a huge fan of Chanel- her house, her entrepreneurial spirit.. herself. Therefore I'm so happy that I was given this book as a Christmas present (which I gobbled up right away) because I now have the privilege of knowing what kind of person the world's most elegant woman really was. Frankly, she was a bitch. And to be honest, I'm kind of okay with that. Karen Karbo is definitely going onto my imaginary list of authors I love and appreciate, and this book is definitely recommended by me to women, especially those with an affinity for fashion, history and wrapping the world around one's finger.
melissad75's review against another edition
3.0
A mix of light biography and inspirational pep talk, along the lines of books like What Would Audrey Do? and A Touch of Grace. Nothing deep or earth-shattering, but it made for good airplane reading during a recent trip. I liked getting to know a little bit about Coco Chanel's life and career.
iloveyoon's review against another edition
2.0
Author didn't seem to know very much about Chanel, doesn't seem to embody Chanel at all and comes off as an American trying desperately to tap into a shallow understanding of French culture and fashion.