orig. published in 1933

The public lives of Gertrude Stein and her partner.

1/4 (Bad).

I gave up after 40 pages. As far as I can tell, the point of this is to impart how important and wonderful the Steins are because they bought some art before it was cool. And it's Literature because they left out some punctuation.

(Aug. 2022) ( )

Couldn't finish this. Maybe I will later. Kind of a slog, but an enjoyable one.

I'm baffled by Gertrude Stein's writing style. Such a straightforward prose but puzzling all the same. I don't know how she manages. The book is a collection of memories of which I expected much more but yes her writing style is why this gets four stars. ( )

I'm surprised so many like Gertrude Stein's "The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas" so much. I found little redeeming about it.

Stein is actually writing her own autobiography here -- but it really isn't even that. She had a revolving door of all the glittering people in turn-of-the-century Paris come by her apartments -- Picasso, Matisse, Hemingway - a veritable smorgsbord of ex-Pats, writers and painters -- many before they became particularly famous. And yet, the stories she tells about them are so incredibly dull. (He came to dinner.... Stein either found him annoying or she liked him.... he made fine paintings in a particular style. The end.)

If you are interested in the art scene at this time in Paris, I guess this might be of interest. But to me, it just felt like Stein liked to collect a lot of names to drop in addition to paintings. ( )