The House of Gucci by Sara Gay Forden chronicles the rise and fall of the Gucci family. It opens with Guccio Gucci and his small business, a leather goods shop, first started in 1921. Focusing on the family it moves forward and discusses how it almost all fell apart due to bankruptcy and again during WWII but was saved both times. After Guccio passes the business is run predominantly by his two sons, Rodolfo and Aldo, though several members of the extended family were heavily involved. It transitions to focusing heavily on how the family infighting and rivalry ended up affecting the business in several different ways which were primarily negative. These included the animosity between Rodolfo and Aldo but also extreme tension between Rodolfo and his son Maurizio as well as the tension between Aldo and his son Paolo. It also covers extensive background on the various interfamily issues and relationships such as the relationship between Maurizio and his wife Patrizia. Interspersed with all of this it covers the rise of the Gucci Empire in fashion and design as well as the various problems that dog it along the way.
I struggled with this book and will admit that I only read it for my book club. It was not necessarily an easy read because the tone tended more toward the dry and academic side. I could tell by reading it that it was more than likely not intended for the general public as it doesn’t seem to be an easily accessible book. Jumping off of that I will also state that you could easily tell that there were copious amounts of research that was done in order to write this book and probably numerous interviews with many of the people mentioned in the later sections of the book. It also was pretty clear that the book was written by someone who was not only knowledgeable but also probably passionate about fashion and the fashion industry. I say that because I have no interest and would probably have never thought to write a book about something like this. There were a few other issues with the book besides the tone so I want to go over those real quick. I think the biggest one is how misleading the presentation of the book is. The description of the book indicates that it will focus heavily on the murder of Maurizio and the opening section seems to also reflect that this will be the focus. However, the main thrust of the book actually seems to be the family itself and spends the majority of the book showing their rise to prominence. Inside the book is probably the second big problem that I noticed. Each chapter seems to indicate it will focus on a specific topic relating to the family but within that chapter there will be numerous meanderings and asides about any number of only tangentially related topics. You will not believe how many times I found myself wondering what this has to do with what we were just talking about. The book was good and I did feel I learned something from reading it but it also had some serious issues in my opinion. I am only giving this three out of five stars.
This is a great work of nonfiction but do not read this if you are thinking it will be a true crime because it is not. The book is aimed at adult audiences and while there is nothing preventing younger readers from trying it I would be surprised if they enjoy it. You are welcome to try this one out anyway but keep in mind what I talked about and be prepared going in. As always feel free to share your thoughts in the comments about it if you have tried this one.