Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice by Janet Malcolm

 genre: biography, history

Gertrude Stein: American expat in Paris and larger-than-life author whose relationship with Alice Toklas survived the Nazi Holocaust.  This book is a look into their private life, their "marriage" and the impact of Alice on Gertrude's writings and on her experience as a whole.  I picked up this book because I am determined to learn more about the lives of all kinds of women and two elderly lesbians who spent the war in France seemed like an interesting story.  However, it was pretty slow.  And as much as I have heard of the name Gertrude Stein, her writing that was included in this book didn't really appeal to me at all. Too much of the text was about the author and her interactions with other authoritative Stein historians and truthfully, I got bored.  I appreciated how many really famous people are a part of her acquaintance, that was fascinating.  I'm also not sorry that I know more about these two women but I think I could've read a quick article about the two of them and it would've been just as good.