Coco Chanel: The Legend and Term Paper

He sees Picardie as revealing subtle truths about Coco -- like the fact that the designer herself "had more versions of the truth than any pathological liar could conjure up" (Felner).

Felner goes on to give his analysis of Coco's life -- as the other biographers do, setting aside the work actually written by Picardie and giving the reader a glimpse of what he (the reviewer) knows about the designer. Finally, Felner gets back to the biography -- in the last paragraph of the review -- and asserts that Picardie's book is definitely the one to read, since it "will debunk many of your prior assumptions or at the very least, give you plausible reason to think twice about what you have previously read" about Chanel (Felner). Here, Felner gives the biography a positive endorsement: Picardie never insists that such and such a point is true, but rather reminds the reader of her work that Chanel's life is shrouded in mystery because the woman herself fashioned it to be that way.

Felner's interpretation of Picardie's biography focus on the finer aspects of the work rather than on what the work leaves out (like the sordid details or crass accusations made by other righteous commentators). Felner appreciates Picardie's view of Chanel, which is compassionate, mystified, sensitive, and investigative, and displays his own affection for Chanel in his review.

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