In contemporary Paris, a narrator and two companions explore the life and work of Gertrude Stein: a subversive imagining of a truly subversive female artist.
A lighthearted, free-associative novel about female friendship and literary inspiration ... If the combination of Levy’s light tone and the bookish details on Stein doesn’t always come together, all the parts of this novel are delightful in themselves: funny, wide-ranging, and worthy of their comma-challenged muse.
The book is far from biographical, or far from biographical in the traditional sense ... As ever, Levy’s writing is subtle and wry ... Language, with all its playfulness, risk, and tender beauty, is the very essence of My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein ... Levy uses language to dismantle and reimagine, to make the familiar seem novel and shiny. It’s no wonder that Stein’s appeal endures. There is always a need for new words and new worlds.
