Bruce Bawer
For all their thematic elaboration, Ms. Byatt's stories in "The Matisse Stories" do not feel contrived or didactic. On the contrary, her characters are credible, their encounters authentically complex, their environments vividly delineated. Indeed, these stories are unusually painterly in their particulars of form, color and shadow....These stories are all about human beings: about how little we can know (or may care to know) about the people with whom we spend our lives, and how tragic the results of that ignorance (or indifference) can be. -- New York Times
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Three stories from Byatt, in each of which a woman's life is touched in some way by the paintings of Henri Matisse. (May)
Library Journal
A best seller in England, where it was published in 1993, this beautifully illustrated volume contains three stories-each a sort of "still life" inspired by a particular Matisse painting-of seemingly ordinary women: a middle-aged teacher forced to play psychiatrist to her self-centered hairdresser; a cleaning woman with a passion for knitting; and a college dean discussing a case of sexual harassment with the accused over lunch in a Chinese restaurant. Byatt (Possession, LJ 11/1/90), who has been in the news lately for her principled stand against huge advances for literary fiction, is a consummate prose stylist, possessed of both perfect pitch for dialog and a painterly eye for the telling details that flesh out these characters and reveal their essential humanness. Highly recommended for fiction collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/94.]-David Sowd, formerly with Stark Cty. District Lib., Canton, Ohio
From the Publisher
"An elegant collection [filled with] richly resonant prose, which evokes the look and feel of bodies and paintings.... Luminous." —The New York Times Book Review
"A. S. Byatt's three-tale sequence hits the imagination's retina with all the vibrant splatter of an exploding paintbox.... Everywhere, scenes sizzle with chromatic intensity." —Sunday Times
"Full of delight and humor ... The Matisse Stories is studded with brilliantly apt images and a fine sense for subtleties of conversation and emotion." —San Francisco Chronicle
"A writer of dazzling inventiveness." —Time
"Brilliant... Byatt's fiction, like Matisse's art, pays close attention to colours and contours of surfaces, then probes beneath them to reveal further suprises." —Newsday
"Exquisite triptych... The Matisse Stories is richly drawn and touches upon things that matter to people." —People
NOV/DEC 97 - AudioFile
A.S. Byatt offers three stories that tantalize the senses. Sounds, colors, tastes and aromas are each part of the vivid imagery Byatt creates. In narrator Virginia Leishman’s interpretation, each of the sensory references becomes even more striking. In “Medusa’s Ankles,” the balancing of the internal thoughts and external dialogue is masterful. In “Art Work,” Leishman uses her crisp, clear British voice to describe the clothes and settings and, in particular, the elaborate, surprising fiber sculptures. Leishman is able to project the careful flow of conversation between characters with unusual subtlety. She uses inflections and pauses to reveal much about the characters. Through this sensitive narration, Byatt’s stories are both soothing and provocative. As listening takes place at a slower pace than one might read, the images seem suspended for an instant before the next sentence continues. R.F.W. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine
