Rating: 
Summary: Art, Curiosity - and stories!
Review: "Elementals" is an invaluable collection of short stories, each one simple in their way but carrying with them a certain charm and personal message of their own. Many of the stories are set in the South of France, and against this beautiful background develops simple tales with complex messages. The stories are pure, peaceful and beautiful, and for anyone with a lively mind and a quick imagination.
Rating: 
Summary: Fairy Tales for Grown Ups
Review: A.S Byatt is one of the most talented writers producing today. Elementals is an engaging collection of fairy tale-ish stories that are a delight to read. Byatt has a wonderful way with the English language. Her writing is delicate and precise without being too precious. She has such incredible range not just within this collection, but in everything she has written. Her Possession: A Romance is one of my favorite novels, but it really isn't anything like Elementals. (Which is not to say that if you like one, you won't like the other) This is not a large volume, but a wonderful way to spend a few hours transported into other worlds by an extremely talented writer. Enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: A.S. Byatt is a beautiful stylist. She is capable of writing sentences that are so rich and thick that they have more common ground with poetry than with traditional prose. Her ability to construct evocative scenes full of color and mystery and a sense of lyricism is unparalleled among recent literary novelists. In fact, she is so very good at what she does that on the strength of the virtues of the one Byatt novel I have read, the Booker Prize winning Possession, I was inclined to think that she was some sort of modern literary genius. But unfortunately, it turns out this is not the case.Elementals, a collection of six short stories published in 1999, superficially has a lot in common with Possession. The writing style remains very similar. It is also immediately apparent that the themes which preoccupy Byatt- the juxtaposition of fairytale and real life, obscure literary symbolism, poetry and art- have not changed. But the six short stories in this book don't have the meaning that existed in Possession, nor the depth. They are subtle, yes- but they are preoccupied with their subtelty and so completely lose sight of their meaning. To quote from the last story in the collection, "Christ in the House of Martha and Mary", speaking on the subject of what makes a person's life valuable one of the characters says: "The divide is not between the servants and the served, between the leisured and the workers, but between those who are interested in the world and its multiplicity of forms and forces, and those who merely subsist, worrying or yawning." An admirable philosopy of humanity, in my opinion. But taken to its extreme, as in these stories, then all things can and will be considered of equal interest and value and every form in the multiplicity of forms worthy of equal consideration. Structured meaning disappears. It's the postmodern quandry... if there are no objective standards than there is no objective way to make value-judgements about art, in which case all "art" is equally valuable. And that's the problem that I have with this book: it's a love affair with the senses but not with the soul. The stories presented here are like Jackson Pollock paintings. They are lovely in their arrangement of color, but they are devoid of substance. I believe that literature becomes art only when it reaches the level of selective and carefully informed re-creation. Ms. Byatt selects the most banal of subjects for her pen, seemingly in haphazard fashion. She has a beautiful way with words, but unless she eventually stops merely writing and begins to actually write about something, she will never be an artist.
Rating:
Summary: Not her best, but enough good tales to make it worthwhile.
Review: A.S. Byatt's 1998 collection of fairy tales, The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye, was one of the most delightful collections of the last decade. Her 1999 follow-up, Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice, is more of a mixed bag, both qualitatively and thematically, but if the rough parts of this six-story collection fall below Byatt's normal standards, the gems shine as brightly as anything she has written. The collection begins, unfortunately, with Byatt's weakest (and longest) entry, "Crocodile Tears." Patricia Nimmo and her husband have a petty argument in a gallery, shortly after which he drops dead. She flees to a small bullfighting town in France to mourn (or, more accurately, to avoid mourning), where she encounters Nils Isaksen, a fellow mourner. Alas, Isaksen never comes across as a complete character, and as Patricia is learning to despise him for saving her time and again, we are learning to be bored by him. Only when he admits to a truly despicable act does he start to appear human and interesting. Seventy-five pages of Byatt prose is always going to be well-written, but her neglect of plot hamstrings the potential of this tale. "A Lamia in the Cévennes," yet another tale of someone escaping to France, also suffers from an unlikable character, although Bernard Lycett-Kean is clearly meant to be a boor. Lycett-Kean, a British painter, moves to France to get away from Thatcherite England, and soon becomes obsessed with his swimming pool's odor and color, eventually filling it with river water. In the process, a lamia gets trapped in the pool, and promises our hero great love and happiness if he'd but kiss her. A consummate painter, he insists upon keeping her as she is until he captures her snakelike beauty on canvas. If the ending falls flat from predictibility, Byatt's examination of the mind of an artist can't be faulted. Lycett-Keen's artistic quests make him "happy, in one of the ways human beings have found in which to be happy," and her examination of his obsessive mind make readers happy in yet another way. The story most written in the classic fairy-tale style, "Cold," tells of a woman born as an ice maiden, and her love for a man of the desert. For all the fairy-tale trappings, Byatt spins a wonderfully modern examination of the inadvertent harm men can do women, and the promises everyone makes to themselves of everlasting happiness. For all the tragedy the ironically-named Fiammarosa endures, this is, at its core, a happy and charming tale. "Baglady" is a surprising, and brilliant, change of pace. Here, Byatt presents a horror story in which a woman gets trapped in a mall. Although the messages may not be original, Byatt's short but effective look at narcissism and capitalism is wittily told, and it's nice to see a member of the literary elite (other than Joyce Carol Oates) embrace a genre that so many greats toiled in a century ago. "Jael," a overlong vignette in which an advertising executive ruminates on unexplained betrayal, is the weakest story in the collection. Byatt seems to have been attempting to capture something of Barbara Kingsolver in her writing style and theme here (she even swipes the not-truly-false memory concept from the latter's Animal Dreams), but she fails miserably to hit it. As a part of a novel, this might have some potential, but here, it's fifteen pages of filler. The final tale, "Christ in the House of Martha and Mary," enters Joanna Scott's territory of historical character studies, and does so wonderfully. This is a sweet tale of the two serving ladies who modeled for Velásquez's painting, particularly Dolores, the model for Martha, and her acceptance of the hand that life has dealt her. All of the themes Byatt has explored throughout the book -- food, art, growth -- converge in this near-perfect ending to Elementals. Gems like this tale and "Cold" make slogging through some of the weaker items worth the effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Elemental
Review: A.S. Byatt's lush prose and dreamy storyline were among the best parts of her hit novel "Possession." Unfortunately, her short stories don't quite live up to that standard. They are woven together with words and a delicate sense for what is beautiful, but seem as cold as the ice princess's skin. "Crocodile Tears," the strongest story in the collection, is a haunting, ambiguous little tale about a woman fleeing from where her husband died. So she goes to France and immerses herself in art, in beauty, and encounters a stranger with his own story to tell. Less compelling is "A Lamia in the Cevennes" (a painter encounters a magical snake), "Cold" (an ice princess has relationship problems with her hot-blooded desert husband), "Bag Lady" (a weird story about being at the mall), "Jael" (artists and the Biblical story), and "Christ in the House of Martha and Mary" (a cute little story about a cook). Generally short stories are written that way because they are too brief or insubstantial to stand as novels. "Elementals" is sunk in a velvety carpet of artistry, beauty and lush language. But it lacks a soul. Few of the characters, except for the lead of "Crocodile Tears," have any depth or development. The rest seem like paper dolls. Byatt's writing is intoxicating; she takes the best of both prose and poetry (she can write both) and mixes them together. And in "Elementals," she stretches her wings into different kinds of stories -- parables, stream-of-consciousness, human drama and fairy tales. Unfortunately, the handling of these stories is clumsy, especially in the tritely plotted "Cold" and instantly forgettable "A Lamia in the Cevennes." Though "Elementals" is described as "stories of fire and ice," ice dominates this cool, pretty little collection of stories. In the end, "Elementals" is elegantly-written but hollow.
Rating:
Summary: Elemental
Review: A.S. Byatt's lush prose and dreamy storyline were among the best parts of her hit novel "Possession." Unfortunately, her short stories don't quite live up to that standard. They are woven together with words and a delicate sense for what is beautiful, but seem as cold as the ice princess's skin. "Crocodile Tears," the strongest story in the collection, is a haunting, ambiguous little tale about a woman fleeing from where her husband died. So she goes to France and immerses herself in art, in beauty, and encounters a stranger with his own story to tell. Less compelling is "A Lamia in the Cevennes" (a painter encounters a magical snake), "Cold" (an ice princess has relationship problems with her hot-blooded desert husband), "Bag Lady" (a weird story about being at the mall), "Jael" (artists and the Biblical story), and "Christ in the House of Martha and Mary" (a cute little story about a cook). Generally short stories are written that way because they are too brief or insubstantial to stand as novels. "Elementals" is sunk in a velvety carpet of artistry, beauty and lush language. But it lacks a soul. Few of the characters, except for the lead of "Crocodile Tears," have any depth or development. The rest seem like paper dolls. Byatt's writing is intoxicating; she takes the best of both prose and poetry (she can write both) and mixes them together. And in "Elementals," she stretches her wings into different kinds of stories -- parables, stream-of-consciousness, human drama and fairy tales. Unfortunately, the handling of these stories is clumsy, especially in the tritely plotted "Cold" and instantly forgettable "A Lamia in the Cevennes." Though "Elementals" is described as "stories of fire and ice," ice dominates this cool, pretty little collection of stories. In the end, "Elementals" is elegantly-written but hollow.
Rating:
Summary: Sumptuous Feast
Review: As a general rule, I am not well-versed in or even greatly care for, short-fiction. But when I came across the beautiful picture on the cover of this volume, I read the back of the jacket, explaining it's contents. Isn't it funny when just the picture on the cover can entice you into reading something you otherwise normally would not? At any rate, this book is a collection of Byatt's short stories of "fire and ice," that is, extremes. Other reviews summarize the individual stories, so I will merely state that this appears to be a collection of how people at one extreme are seduced into the lives of people at the opposite end of the spectrum. The prose is lyrical, yet purposeful, and Byatt's rich narratives aptly set the scene for easy imaginings and identification with both the characters and the settings. Perhaps what's most intriguing is that while reading about the extremes of two characters, you will find yourself placed in the middle of the road, able to identify with both. Provocative and compelling. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Sumptuous Feast
Review: As a general rule, I am not well-versed in or even greatly care for, short-fiction. But when I came across the beautiful picture on the cover of this volume, I read the back of the jacket, explaining it's contents. Isn't it funny when just the picture on the cover can entice you into reading something you otherwise normally would not? At any rate, this book is a collection of Byatt's short stories of "fire and ice," that is, extremes. Other reviews summarize the individual stories, so I will merely state that this appears to be a collection of how people at one extreme are seduced into the lives of people at the opposite end of the spectrum. The prose is lyrical, yet purposeful, and Byatt's rich narratives aptly set the scene for easy imaginings and identification with both the characters and the settings. Perhaps what's most intriguing is that while reading about the extremes of two characters, you will find yourself placed in the middle of the road, able to identify with both. Provocative and compelling. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A book as beautiful on the outside as on the inside.
Review: As an editor, I don't always get to publish books that are as handsome as their contents deserve. Like "The Matisse Stories" and "The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye," however, "Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice" is as vivid in its appearance as it is vibrant in its writing. Any fan of A. S. Byatt, of short fiction, and of modern fables well told will enjoy this book. I haven't worked with this author before now, and it is a real privilege to do so.
Rating:
Summary: Once Again, Byatt Leaves Me Cold
Review: At the behest of friends who swear by her books, I periodically return to A.S. Byatt to try and get a glimpse of what it is they find so enchanting in her work. After the weighty Babel Tower and Possession, this small volume of six stories seemed to offer a more painless approach. Once again, however, I have to confess that her dense and elaborate style, crammed full of classical and biblical references comes off the page as rather over-thought and contrived to me. The first story, about a woman who literally runs away from her husband's death left me utterly unmoved and cold. Another story about a reclusive painter who encounters a mythical creature in his swimming pool also left me with a "so-what" emptiness. Yes, Byatt can create these dense sentences dripping with description, but it's all underpinned by a sense of ennui that I find tiresome. The longest and most conventional of the stories is a fairy tale about a princess with ice maiden blood falls in love with a desert prince, and sacrifices her health to be with him. In that context, Byatt's elaborate prose works a bit better and isn't so off-putting. However, my favorite tale is of the wife of an English businessman who gets lost in a giant Asian shopping mall. It's a funny and grotesque absurdist piece, and the only one where Byatt's style doesn't take precedence over the storytelling. In any event, this little volume will likely appeal to Byatt's fans and do little to endear her to those-like me-who don't care for her style.
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