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    The Matisse Stories
    The Matisse Stories
    The Matisse Stories
    Audiobook3 hours

    The Matisse Stories

    Written by A. S. Byatt

    Narrated by Virginia Leishman

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A.S. Byatt's books shimmer with all the hues of her critically acclaimed talent and imagination. In The Matisse Stories, this Booker Prize-winning author offers three elegant tales that explore the subtle interplays between mind and eye, heart and hand. In the first, Medusa's Ankles, a fashionable woman watches her life take on darker, more ominous shades in the mirror of a beauty salon. In the next, Art Work, an eccentric housekeeper's alarming eye for color leaves its mark on her employers' lives. Each of these stories, including the last, The Chinese Lobster, is like a finely crafted jewel. Rich imagery and effortless narratives make The Matisse Stories an unforgettable listening experience. The characters are sketched with a sureness that confirms A.S. Byatt's artistry. And through the nuances of Virginia Leishman's eloquent narration, the listener is brought into a rare world of heightened sensibilities and perceptions.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateMay 13, 2011
    ISBN9781461809623
    The Matisse Stories
    Author

    A. S. Byatt

    A. S. Byatt is famed for her short fiction, collected in Sugar and Other Stories, The Matisse Stories, and The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye. Her full-length novels include the Booker Prize-winning Possession, The Biographer's Tale, The Shadow of the Sun and the quartet of novels including The Virgin in the Garden, Still Life, Babel Tower, and soon to be completed by A Whistling Woman. She has also published es of critical work, of which On Histories & Stories is the most recent. She lives in London.

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    Reviews for The Matisse Stories

    4/5

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    • 5/5
      This book consists of three short stories, dedicated "For Peter, who taught me to look at things slowly ....The first, Medusa's Ankles, delivers the impact that the aesthetic deterioration of a middle-aged woman has on her husband and herself, symbolized by her hair. It was a short story dense with meanings and I am at exactly and precisely the right age to exquisitely appreciate it. The next story, Art Work, starts off with an extremely sensory description of the setting, including a stunning description of a washing machine. As with the previous story, one of the key issues was how one sees things and people. The role and meaning of color was integrated into all the relationships and the storyline, which ends with a good "gotcha". The last story, The Chinese Lobster, hinges on a student's dissertation on the female body and Matisse. This focus is used to enable another examination of women in relationships and professions. Highly recommended. My synopses do not convey the emotional and aesthetic power of these stories. 4.5 stars.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      A collection of three short stories, each one resolves around a Matisse painting, by the author of the award- winning book, 'Possession.' One story deals with a hair salon, another with professors, sexual harassment and a student who hates Matisse, but the one that stood out to me was called 'Art Work.' The story introduces us to a family and their inimitable cleaning lady. Debbie, her artistic husband and her kids depend on their cleaning lady to keep their house running smoothly, but she has secrets of her own that they know nothing about. The collection is small, but interesting and it made me look up more paintings and information about Matisse himself, even though he is only a peripheral part of the book.
    • 4/5
      The stories are actually quite easy to follow. Well written stories but not lifechanging.
    • 3/5
      I would have to say that you need to know about some of Matisse’s paintings to get the how the stories coinside. While listening it almost seemed like the stories melt into one another. It seems like the main characters (Translator and wife) are one in the same in each story if you didn’t know any better.

      It seems that art is the main theme of each story. The lovely picture hung in the salon. The “housekeeper” that has the collage art show made out of all the “bids & bobs” she gathers at her customers house. The art student that is studying the nudes as she is thinking about her own body image.

    • 5/5
      Excellent - vivid and thought-provoking. Looking forward to reading this again.