« December 2, 2010, marked the 30th anniversary of his death, but the French-Jewish novelist Romain Gary, born Roman Kacew in Vilnius in 1914, has never been more current. And as if to prove it, an insightful new biography, “Romain Gary: A Tall Story” by David Bellos, appeared recently from Harvill Secker.

Bellos, an expert translator and biographer of the intricate French-Jewish author Georges Perec, is an experienced guide to abstruse literary machinations. It’s just as well, since the life and work of Gary might baffle a less astute guide. Gary wrote under a half-dozen different pen names — sometimes directly in English, which he mastered inadequately — and scattered misleading misinformation about himself throughout books and interviews… »