I didn’t get the point of this album. It felt as though someone had turned a book into a graphic novel but didn’t have the budget to print the full number of pages, so some panels were removed at random. The result of these omissions is incoherent and unstructured —just a series of fragmented plots interspersed with a long chain of name-dropping. However, the cover information mentions the usual collaboration between writer and illustrator, so I wonder who made these editorial decisions, and to what end.
The story moves backwards and forwards, following an unexplained sequence of objects or circumstances. The voice of the narrator appears to be anonymous, yet is not; and at the same time, it is (again) a male voice that isn’t particularly masculine. It seems that this ever-present narrator adds little to the story, but was considered the least bad option compared to others —such as allowing Toklas or Stein to speak, which I would clearly prefer.
The artwork is beautiful, such as the double-page spread dedicated to Matisse’s vineyards in Clamart. However, it doesn’t seem to be in harmony with the story —if there is one. Occasionally, there are even continuity errors, like the inconsistency with the hats worn by Stein and Toklas. I didn’t learn anything, and the enjoyment was limited to a few of the more visually refined pages.