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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
Very well done. Didn't make me like G or A any more than I already did...
informative
fast-paced
Three and a half, really. This was a quick read, very clearly written, very enjoyable. Even someone like me who's never read Stein could have a good time with it.
prob the oddest Malcolm I have read to date... structurally bizarre... idk what to make of this one. some good quotes! maybe I don't care about Gertrude Stein that much? I don't know!!
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Malcolm started very strong and then wavered a bit, I think, as the book sort of lost its sense of purpose towards the end of part two and into part three. Ultimately a fascinating account of Gertrude Stein who was undeniably incredibly imaginative and fascinating from a literary perspective, but also a complete and utter Narcissist whose beliefs are almost shocking to read about. I liked Janet Malcolm's semi-autobiographical commentary on Stein, as well, the position that one would place themselves in by taking a position on her work (and her position as this giant of a sort of modern high-brow self-consciously-intellectual but disaffected generation). Kept me intrigued throughout, also, probably because it was very good at balancing the biographical and the literary sides of analysis. Would love to read more Janet Malcolm!
I guess you have to be a fan of Gertrude Stein's to enjoy this book, and apparently I'm very ambivalent. Too much talk about her books, which I've never read, and too much talk about Stein biographers and scholars. Only this book could make the assisted escape of a friend and Nazi sympathizer into a boring story.
I am not the least bit interested in the work of Gertrude Stein, yet I still read this book in a single sitting. Janet Malcolm can do no wrong in my eyes. Her use of long quotes from published and archival sources and her discussion of earlier biographies and biographers make her work as much about the challenge of biography as about the particular biographical subjects. Perhaps I didn’t enjoy this book quite as much as her books on psychoanalysis or The Silent Woman, but I still can’t give it less than five stars. Love you Janet.
I'm a huge fan of Janet Malcolm and I find the Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas quite intriguing.
A chunk of this was published in the New Yorker, but the new stuff is definitely worth the read.
A chunk of this was published in the New Yorker, but the new stuff is definitely worth the read.
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced