Reviewed by Monique Prince, Undergraduate Services Librarian
In contrast to the lengthy Possession: A Romance, another A. S. Byatt work reviewed on this site, The Matisse Stories is a small collection of three short stories. Each of the stories incorporates a different Matisse painting, although they are about contemporary characters going about their everyday lives. Byatt's descriptions are colorful and highly sensory...not only when she is describing the Matisse paintings, but also as she describes setting and character. All three stories are primarily about relationships—between a woman and her hairdresser; between a husband, wife, and their housekeeper; and between an academic department head and a professor accused of sexual harassment—and how those relationships alternately hide and reveal complex human emotions.
