9780063040274
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The House of Gucci audiobook

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The House of Gucci Audiobook Summary

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE from director Ridley Scott, starring Lady Gaga and Adam Driver

The sensational true story of murder, madness, glamour, and greed that shook the Gucci dynasty, now fully updated with a new afterword

On the morning of March 27, 1995, four quick shots cracked through Milan’s elegant streets. Maurizio Gucci, heir to the fabulous fashion dynasty, had been ambushed, slain on the steps to his office by an unknown gunman. Two years later, Milan’s chief of police entered the sumptuous palazzo of Maurizio’s ex-wife, Patrizia Reggiani–nicknamed “the Black Widow” by the press–and arrested her for the murder.

Did Patrizia kill her ex-husband because his spending was wildly out of control? Did she do it because he was preparing to marry his mistress? Or is it possible Patrizia didn’t do it at all?

The Gucci story is one of glitz, glamour, and intrigue–a chronicle of the rise, near fall, and subsequent resurgence of a fashion dynasty. Beautifully written, impeccably researched, and widely acclaimed, The House of Gucci is a page-turning account of high fashion, high finance, and heartrending personal tragedy

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The House of Gucci Audiobook Narrator

Sara Gay Forden is the narrator of The House of Gucci audiobook that was written by Sara Gay Forden

About the Author(s) of The House of Gucci

Sara Gay Forden is the author of The House of Gucci

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The House of Gucci Full Details

Narrator Sara Gay Forden
Length 16 hours 20 minutes
Author Sara Gay Forden
Category
Publisher HarperAudio
Release date November 24, 2020
ISBN 9780063040274

Subjects

The publisher of the The House of Gucci is HarperAudio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Business & Economics, General, International

Additional info

The publisher of the The House of Gucci is HarperAudio. The imprint is HarperAudio. It is supplied by HarperAudio. The ISBN-13 is 9780063040274.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Nina

August 21, 2017

Do you remember the Gucci canvas bags with the green and red straps? I really wanted one of those bags, although the ones I saw were probably all knock-offs. This book revealed that the revenue from that product line alone was worth $100 million dollars! When Maurizio Gucci took control of the Gucci empire in the mid 90’s after he outmanoeuvred his uncle and cousins in a hostile takeover, he decided that those bags were too low brow for Gucci and ordered that the product line be cut overnight. That’s $100 million in revenue, cut overnight, without anything new to replace it. The leftover stock was sent to rot in warehouses. This was one in a string of decisions, combined with out of control spending that took Gucci from a growing and successful company into a downward spiral. At one point Maurizio was so broke ($40 million in personal debt as well as the company in the red) he was borrowing money from his driver and his American Gucci CEO. His secretary had to run the gauntlet of paying bills to suppliers and staff in instalments, until he finally agreed to step down and was bought out by Investcorp in one of the most successful IPO’s in the fashion and luxury goods industry. This is an incredibly well researched book. The cover lures you in with the intrigue of a murder, but in reality there are only two chapters dedicated to that part of the Gucci lore, one at the beginning to describe the murder and one at the end to describe the trial. The rest of the book is about business: boardroom fiasco’s, family power struggles, legal battles and the world of investment banking. For anyone that has an inkling of interest in fashion and big brands, this is a great insight into how these businesses are built, bought and sold. It’s not just about the advertising campaigns and the big names. The legal bills alone will make your eyes water.PS. I recommend doing a google search on Patrizia Gucci to see what she is up to now!

Alexa

March 07, 2022

I happen to like really dense non-fiction, especially looks into complex webs of corporate malfeasance/mismanagement, thus House of Gucci was a super solid read for me. But I think most people who saw the movie/came for the true crime drama will be annoyed/frustrated/disappointed. And even with my inclination, the book frustrated in a few points, so it's not a 5 star/must recommend from me, either.But, man, is it an eye-opening picture of the rise and fall and rise again of Gucci! And that's really what it is: this book is 90% solely about the family and the business, not about Patrizia Reggiani and the true crime aspect of it. I really liked how it started at the beginning and then moved chronologically through the history of the company, via that lens: the company. The book goes long stretches focusing solely on the nitty-gritty of business decisions and disagreements/literal fist fights/backstabbing/lawsuits with nary a mention of Patricia/Maurizio's marriage/personal lives even though you know, logically, many things were happening concurrently. It would be interesting to see a differently lensed take that blended the two narratives together in one stream for context, as I did find myself wondering more than once "ok Maurizio's is acting like a giant asshole/moron during this period at Gucci--how does this dovetail with what was going on with his marriage/at home?" Especially given Patricia's eventual diagnosis as having npd and, well, that she murdered him... one can only one how much of his business spiral was connected to his personal spiral. But for me, the business-only focus was certainly interesting enough. I came away with a pretty solid understanding of the family, the culture (both in the business, the family, and Italian business culture), the various toxic dynamics and the broader business/industry picture throughout the years. If you love fashion, fashion history, and US & international corporate/business/stock/conglomerate/investment nerdery... it's really interesting! However it's also LONG, and a dense read. I think those who want the juicy narrative/true crime parts will be too bored to finish it, honestly.The storytelling style sits between "a bit dry" and "slightly narrative"--there are some vividly painted scenes, to great effect, but many stretches that FEEL like informational journalism. It's fine, but on the scale of "evocative narrative journalism that reads like fiction" and... not that--this sits closer to "straightforward, super in depth piece of long form journalism." So it's not one I'd recommend to a "reluctant non-fiction" reader, basically.Where I gave pause more than once was the sourcing where specific scenes of Maurizio and Patrizia's relationship was concerned. Unlike some non-fiction that makes clear what the sources are for select stories, this book doesn't do that--at least NOT in the parts about the "juicy" true crime/personal stuff. Without such sourcing/citations, I just stopped more than once at a incendiary description of Maurizio getting violent with Patrizia, for example, or saying something REALLY nasty... and wondered "source?" Because if Patrizia is that source, as I suspect for these instances that were strictly between them, it makes me... itch in a very uncomfortable way to describes these scenes as fact. The man is dead--he cannot defend himself. Did he really choke Patrizia and say this will make you taller?! Ma'am, I'm going to need an independent, corroborating source on that. I'm just not 100% comfortable with accepting Patrizia's telling of... anything as objective fact. And if there was additional sourcing, as I said, it's not said on the page. It made me super uncomfortable.So I can recommend this with caveats, per above. A great read for a certain kind of reader/non-fiction fan. Did make me slightly sad we didn't get House of Gucci as a Succession-esque mini-series b/c it is RIPE for that... now I know why the movie couldn't decide who the main character was, or what the main story was... b/c it was cherry picking the small amount of true crime from what is really a family and business saga. And that side of it is SO much more interesting than depicted in the film! (also wow was Adam Driver horribly miscast. Jared Leto too, imo)

Austeja Melisa

August 17, 2021

Grab this book as a fashion history lover, and it will be a 5 star for you. Expect it to be a classic true crime book, and you won’t enjoy it as much, as it simply isn’t one. This book is 400 pages of 100 years of business history that started as a small leather goods shop in Florence by Guccio Gucci in 1921 and later became a fashion titan through ups and downs and the work of many people involved. This is wonderfully detailed story of one of the most iconic fashion houses packed with facts, details of business decisions, lawsuits, family affairs and feuds.

bri

September 11, 2021

this was simply a rollercoaster of events damn

Bridgey

November 26, 2021

I think I’ve called this book fascinating at least 1,000 times over the past 10 days I’ve been reading it, but that’s because it is! Truly fascinating! It’s long and the tiniest bit dense, but only because there is so much history to cover. Otherwise, it’s exciting and reads almost like a screen play (checks out). I went into this one essentially blind to the history of Gucci (literally didn’t even realize Tom Ford was so involved, maybe I’m just a big dummy), and wow I feel like I learned so much - not only about the family and the brand, but also about the politics of the luxury goods market and frankly, banking (that last one is general, yes, but a huge one for me). My only complaint is that occasionally the presentation of information as it relates to historical timeline felt jumbled, but when considering how much was going on concurrently with the family and the business, I actually can’t think of a better way to have structured the book. Can’t wait to see the movie and compare.

Ruba

January 18, 2022

I watched the movie before reading the book and it left me with a lot of questions. I just wanted to know more of the family and how things went down.Once I started listening to the audiobook I noticed that the movie missed out on so many important details and tampered with some. Moreover, the “greed” factor was since Gucci was established, not only by the murderer! I also found the storyline of the family so riveting and moving because they all partnered up against one another as they were aiming to have fortune more than getting Gucci up to standards. Which lead to the ownership of the company falling on someone else’s hand. It was one dysfunctional family. It truly saddened me to know that the company wasn’t owned by Gucci themselves.Anyhow, listening to the audiobook was such a good idea, I feel if I read it —how historical it was— I would’ve found it a bit boring and wouldn’t have enjoyed it. It is truly an astonishing story. I advise everyone to read/listen to the book instead of watching the movie!

Aya

February 26, 2022

This book shouldn't be "The House of Gucci" , instead it should be "The History of Gucci" . The book started with the assassination of Maurizio Gucci and then it jumped to the very beginning of how Gucci was formed.I've to applaud for the research that Sara Gay Forden did. It was so detailed with facts and figures. This book was like a business textbook filled with so many transactions." The Gucci brand name was compelling, but it was also associated with family disputes, lawsuits, and tax schemes."I picked up this book because I want to know more about the assassination but instead I got a complete history lesson of Gucci.

Jackie

November 14, 2022

Hello everyone! I just finished the book last night and saw the movie over the weekend! I’m Gaga over Lady Gaga !!! She was fantastic in the movie as Patrizia Gucci ! She is what made the movie good for me ! Ok now I will talk about the book I got off track ! I gave it four stars because I really like the parts of the book about Patrizia and Maurizio Gucci on how the met and how they got super super greedy ! Maurizio I found was a backstabber toward his uncle Aldo and his cousin Paolo ! Poor Paolo died in poverty! Maurizio almost bankrupt the company good thing about the takeover! He had to borrow money off his own driver and could not even pay his employees ! Plus he ran away to Switzerland because he owed money in taxes and forged his father’s signature on important documents! He had Aldo put in Jail for not paying taxes but he runs away to Switzerland! Plus has an affair! He eventually Divorces Patrizia who does not accept it at all so decides with her whacky fortune teller to put black magic spells on him but when that does not work anymore she eventually puts a hit on him with the help of Pina the whacky lady ! The hit man eventually kills Maurizio on a beautiful day making it look like a mafia hit ! I with the others in here think that the author went to much back and fourth with the couple and the business part (Take over) I think she should have focused more on the couple . By the way Patrizia is out of jail for good behaviour.

Reginas..Haunted..Library

April 18, 2021

I thoroughly enjoyed this. A well-written, intriguing glimpse into the world of European fashion.

Martina

August 14, 2022

Kto by si bol kedy pomyslel, že taký antitalent na módu ako ja, raz siahne po "kronike" jednej z najprestížnejších svetových značiek? Ja veru nie, no predsa sa tak stalo - predsa som pod vplyvom boomu, ktorý vypukol okolo filmového spracovania, podľahla akejsi nevysvetliteľnej zvedavosti a (s cieľom dozvedieť sa čosi viac o podniku pre mňa viac-menej neznámom) nakukla do ich "rodinnej Biblie" - do Klanu Gucci. Rodinné putá i konflikty, nezhody i veľké sny. Prestíž, bohatstvo a klamstvá i škandály, závisť, žiarlivosť a nehanebná vražda... Cesta neznámej firmičky až na vrchol sveta dláždená mramorom i krvou, slzami, potom i neľahkými rozhodnutiami. Trúfalými, plnými nádeje, no predsa čas od času nešťastnými, ba priam tragickými. Život síce lákavý, no plný tajomstiev a mocenských hrátok. Peniaze, luxus, dlhy a podrážanie. Plač a averzia. Inými slovami, Gucci. Tak ako mnohí iní, aj americká spisovateľka Sara Gay Fordenová podľahla zvučnému menu a úspechu či škandálom, ktoré sa s ním spájali, a po rozsiahlom výskume zahŕňajúcom rozhovory so zainteresovanými, pripravila detailný prierez históriou rodiny i značky. Príbeh klanu Gucci vykreslila od samotných počiatkov, pričom sa zameriavala nie len na charakter či prednosti vedúcich členov spoločnosti (rodinných príslušníkov i "neznámych") a postupný vývin či zmeny, ktoré firmu formovali, ale i na chaos, nezhody a konflikty, ktoré jej medzi smotánkou dodávali osobitý ráz. Fordenová poukazovala na neľahkú cestu podniku z tieňa na výslnie, na jeho vzostupmi i pádmi poznačenú metamorfózu, na radosť i zúfalstvo, ktoré sprevádzalo rodinu, i na tragédiu, ktorá ochromila módny svet, no hoci by sa na základe (mierne zavádzajúcej) anotácie mohlo zdať, že čitateľom ponúkla trileru podobný krvák, nie je tomu veru tak. Dotkla sa komplikovaných vzťahov a rozdielnych vízií, snahy budovať aj tvrdohlavej neochoty vzdať sa, čím nám dovolila nahliadnuť nie len do zákulisia jednej rodiny a firmy, ale i do zákulisia celého módneho priemyslu.Nesmierne zaujímavé a obsažné čítanie, hoci ak po knihe siahate na základe anotácie sľubujúcej vraždu, vyšetrovanie a poriadny triler pripomínajúci krvák, trochu vás sklamem. Všetko spomenuté sa tu, samozrejme, nachádza, no vražda Maurizia Gucciho nie je ani zďaleka stredobodom pozornosti, ako by sa mohlo zdať. Nesťažujem sa, na krváky si nepotrpím, no vopred vystíham :-)

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