Interviewing Matisse, or the Woman Who Died Standing Up - by Lily Tuck (Paperback)

About the Book

Originally published: [New York]: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991.

From the Back Cover

Lily, Molly, and Inez are women of a certain age, of a certain bearing, of a certain class. Late one dire night, Molly telephones from Connecticut to catch Lily up with the news: Inez's corpse -- near-naked but wearing boots -- has been discovered propped up "like a broom" in a corner of her Soho loft. It is an occasion ripe for an all-night heart-to-heart conversation, bouncing deliriously from one evasion to the next -- until the pair of talk-crazy, talk-weary women have successfully diverted themselves with all the wonderfully vagrant stuff of life . . . with everything, in fact, except grief.

Review Quotes

"Hilarious, appalling, profound... What an illuminating satire Tuck has written, her hearing so acute, her night-vision so preternatural!" - Richard Howard
"What an ear Lily Tuck has!... Tuck has written a very funny and completely original book. I loved it!" - Frances FitzGerald
"Surprising . . . Technically audacious." - Newsday
Tuck has a knack for capturing the meadering quality of real conversation." - New York Times Book Review
"Shows a real gift for comic dialogue." - Library Journal
"What great fun this novel is! . . . A lovely and engaging tour de force. Hooray for Lily Tuck!" - George Plimpton
"Tuck wickedly satirizes worship of fame and celebrity, spirituality seekers eager for a quick fix, dentists, Americans' glorification of French culture and the French people's glorification of themselves." - Publishers Weekly
"What an ear Lily Tuck has! . . . a very funny and completely original book. I loved it!" - Frances FitzGerald
"What an illuminating satire Tuck has written . . . hilarious, appalling, profound." - Richard Howard
"Most impressive . . . Sharp, funny and strangely affecting . . Highly original . . . Wonderful satire." - Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
"Sophisticated and funny... Tuck gives us... with the skill and technique of an unblinking juggler, a heart-stopping struggle." - Washington Post Book World