“Funny, whip-smart. . . . Both a hilarious raid on fashion’s strongholds and a memoir that satisfies like a novel. Fashion die-hards, and many others, will be delighted from beginning to end.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“The one-step, one-stop shop guide to buying a Birkin.” — Huffington Post
“The one-step, one-stop shop guide to buying a Birkin.” — Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post
“ [Tonello] reveals the key to scoring that Holy Grail of handbags in a clever memoir.” — Boston Herald
“In his peppy, addictive memoir . . . [Tonello] details the comical lengths to which he’s gone to snag hundreds of Birkins that he then sells (with a steep mark-up) on eBay.” — moderntonic.com
“The perfect, fluffy and fun beach read.” — glamour.com
“A witty and engaging retrospective on [Tonello’s] long career traipsing the globe as a purveyor of the Birkin bag.” — Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“[A] sunny memoir. . . . The prose is vivid, the tone lighthearted. Mr. Tonello comes off as the fantasy gay best friend immortalized in contemporary women’s fiction: sassy, plucky, optimistic—oh, and he can get you a Birkin.” — Wall Street Journal
“[A] memoir of . . . madcap travels, triumphs and humiliations. [Tonello] peels back the layers of pretension at the eminent design house. . . . Anyone who’s ever stepped into a luxury boutique and felt the sting of the doorman’s disapproval will find a hero in Tonello.” — Miami Herald
“Tonello recounts the strange and serendipitous tale of how he went from cleaning out his closet to being one of the busiest Internet resellers of Birkin bags in the world.” — The Globe and Mail
Boston Globe bestseller —
“Fascinating. . . . The sassy and resourceful Tonello built a very lucrative eBay resale business from his apartment, specializing in Hermès scarves and the French luxury purveyor’s highly desired Birkin bag. It’s hard not to be swept up in his delightful one-man Birkin Brigades.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
“A deliciously addictive true tale of continent-hopping, celebrity-schmoozing, and a crazy-like-a-fox quest for that Hermès “it” bag, the Birkin. Haute read, indeed.” — straight.com
“This summer’s most adorable chick-lit book. . . . It’s smart. It’s fizzy. It’s amusingly snarky, with attitude to burn. ” — New York Times
“Part comedy, part history, part treasure hunt, Michael Tonello’s memoir is a romping sociological inquiry. If you’re like me, you’ll be transfixed and wanting more!” — Tim Gunn
“Hermès’ worst nightmare.” — New York Daily News
“I devoured, and adored Bringing Home the Birkin, the story of how one man turned the fashionable set’s obsession with Hermès’ signature handbag into a handsome, globe-trotting career.” — Jennifer Weiner, Author of Good in Bed and In Her Shoes
“A deliciously quick nonfiction read.” — Charlotte Observer
“Funny, thrilling, chock-full of great cocktail-party stories told with the flair of a natural raconteur.” — "The Year in Books 2008," Chicago Center for Literature and Photography
“The fashion world is about to be handed its own Da Vinci Code with Bringing Home the Birkin.” — Maclean's
The perfect, fluffy and fun beach read.
[Tonello] reveals the key to scoring that Holy Grail of handbags in a clever memoir.
The one-step, one-stop shop guide to buying a Birkin.
[A] sunny memoir. . . . The prose is vivid, the tone lighthearted. Mr. Tonello comes off as the fantasy gay best friend immortalized in contemporary women’s fiction: sassy, plucky, optimistic—oh, and he can get you a Birkin.
[A] memoir of . . . madcap travels, triumphs and humiliations. [Tonello] peels back the layers of pretension at the eminent design house. . . . Anyone who’s ever stepped into a luxury boutique and felt the sting of the doorman’s disapproval will find a hero in Tonello.
The fashion world is about to be handed its own Da Vinci Code with Bringing Home the Birkin.
Hermès’ worst nightmare.
Part comedy, part history, part treasure hunt, Michael Tonello’s memoir is a romping sociological inquiry. If you’re like me, you’ll be transfixed and wanting more!
I devoured, and adored Bringing Home the Birkin, the story of how one man turned the fashionable set’s obsession with Hermès’ signature handbag into a handsome, globe-trotting career.
A deliciously quick nonfiction read.
Fascinating. . . . The sassy and resourceful Tonello built a very lucrative eBay resale business from his apartment, specializing in Hermès scarves and the French luxury purveyor’s highly desired Birkin bag. It’s hard not to be swept up in his delightful one-man Birkin Brigades.
This summer’s most adorable chick-lit book. . . . It’s smart. It’s fizzy. It’s amusingly snarky, with attitude to burn.
A deliciously quick nonfiction read.
Hermès’ worst nightmare.
A deliciously addictive true tale of continent-hopping, celebrity-schmoozing, and a crazy-like-a-fox quest for that Hermès “it” bag, the Birkin. Haute read, indeed.
In his peppy, addictive memoir . . . [Tonello] details the comical lengths to which he’s gone to snag hundreds of Birkins that he then sells (with a steep mark-up) on eBay.
The one-step, one-stop shop guide to buying a Birkin.
A witty and engaging retrospective on [Tonello’s] long career traipsing the globe as a purveyor of the Birkin bag.
Tonello recounts the strange and serendipitous tale of how he went from cleaning out his closet to being one of the busiest Internet resellers of Birkin bags in the world.
First, a one-stop tutorial on the title: Hermès Birkin handbags set the standard for female accessories. Prices for this French high fashion item begin at $7,500; reputedly, there is a two-year waiting list for prospective buyers. Michael Tonello's Bringing Home the Birkin chronicles his hunt for not one prize Birkin but a whole multitude. Gaining access to Hermès's elite hierarchy, this resourceful wheeler-dealer learns seldom-revealed secrets about the coveted accessory. Short of a Birkin, the best fashion tote around.
Periodically charming but fluffy comic memoir. Semi-bored Massachusetts-based hairstylist Tonello "had spent most of the decade trigger-happy with a can of hairspray and a powder puff" and was ready for a change. A temporary gig in Barcelona convinced him that Spain was the place he really ought to be and that having "too much shit to move" wasn't a good enough reason to stay put. He took the plunge and happily relocated. Once settled across the pond, Tonello drifted into a new business venture: reselling Hermes products on eBay. The most exciting pieces of merchandise he dealt with were the infamously high-end Birkin handbags, and eventually he became obsessed with them. Can the average reader relate to a several-hundred page search for personal and professional Birkin Nirvana? Probably not, but the primary problem with Tonello's debut is bigger than that. The "in search of . . . " subgenre is just about played out. Considering how many of these books clog the shelves, chances are good that a title will blend in with its brethren unless either the object sought or the author is utterly compelling. Despite Tonello's deft sense of humor, sharp observational skills, an appreciation for the absurd and some positive energy, his confessional travelogue/how-to is relatively undistinguished and indistinguishable. Clever yet unremarkable. Agent: Laura Yorke/Carol Mann Agency
[A] memoir of . . . madcap travels, triumphs and humiliations. [Tonello] peels back the layers of pretension at the eminent design house. . . . Anyone who’s ever stepped into a luxury boutique and felt the sting of the doorman’s disapproval will find a hero in Tonello.
[A] sunny memoir. . . . The prose is vivid, the tone lighthearted. Mr. Tonello comes off as the fantasy gay best friend immortalized in contemporary women’s fiction: sassy, plucky, optimistic—oh, and he can get you a Birkin.
Funny, thrilling, chock-full of great cocktail-party stories told with the flair of a natural raconteur.
