An American in Paris

By Margaret Vandenburg and Margaret Vandenberg

Book Overview

"In the States, celibacy had never been my strong suit. In Paris, it was a crime against nature--a mortal sin." With this cheeky response to her new city, Henri Adams--recently released from the tyranny of Prohibition and freshly appointed as an art correspondent for En Vogue magazine--sets out to discover the literary, artistic, and more unmentionable pleasures of Paris during the Roaring Twenties. Welcomed with open arms by Gertrude Stein (and somewhat more soberly by Alice B. Toklas), Henri hobnobs with expatriate luminaries--Natalie Barney, Picasso, Colette, Romaine Brooks, Ernest Hemingway, Djuna Barnes--and unleashes her Yankee curiosity, only to find herself entangled in an avant-garde art theft ring and the shackles of Paris' sapphic underground. Gay Paris more than lives up to its name in this prequel to Vandenburg's most recent novel, Craze, a Jazz Age portrait of queer New York.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1573441074
• ISBN13: 9781573441070
• Release Date: February 2025
• Publisher: Cleis Press
• Length: 223 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A Delicious Romp

Having been a lover of the Paris of Gertrude Stein and Picasso since my early teens, I was very excited to read Vandenburg's An American in Paris; and, I was not disappointed. Vandenburg has written an eloquent, funny, delightful romp through the academic and sexual turns of the fictional Henri and the "non-fictional" Stein and Alice B. Playing with language (both academic and foreign) and gender stereotypes, Vandenburg illuminates a young woman's journey to self-discovery with a wonderfully light touch and deliciously wry sense of humor.

A provocative and promising novel

I opened this book with some trepidation. From the cover it looked like Ms. Vandenburg had taken an awful lot on herself. Paris in the 20s? "Talk about overdone!" However, from the moment I read the first line I was quickly transported into the world she had created. The main strength of the novel is the fine-tuned characterization of the protagonist, Henri Adams. The coming-of-age plot is nicely enhanced by the obvious growth of the character. The entire book is narrated by Henri, which helps this, even though she's supposedly reminiscing. The prose is occasionally overburdened with adjectives and awkward word combinations, and while some of that can be attributed to the narrator I found it a bit tough to get through once in a while. That said, there are some wonderfully witty bits of prose that stand out... the scenes in the Paris underground gave me exquisite chills and some of the dialogue made me laugh so hard I had to hold on to my chair. The setting of the story, while vast, is handled deftly. It is obvious that the author has a vast knowledge of the time period. All of the famous characters (Gertrude Stein, Picasso, etcetera) are nicely depicted in a way that makes me almost forget that they were and are celebrities. That was a nice touch. Overall, this is quite nicely done. I recommend it highly to most. I look forward to seeing more from this new face in the future.