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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
I wasn't a big fan of the initial stories, in which people who loathe each other and themselves hook up for weird angry sex, are disappointed by each other, and hate the whole experience.
Later stories are more interesting and quite varied. Some of them are really good, and I mostly enjoyed the writing. Overall the book is worth reading and thinking about.
Later stories are more interesting and quite varied. Some of them are really good, and I mostly enjoyed the writing. Overall the book is worth reading and thinking about.
Gatskill has a keen eye for human quirks, and I believe this is the foundational strength of her work. The first two entries in this anthology were not to my tastes, but I felt the stories picked up in quality as the book progressed. Gatskill also did a fine job of capturing NYC in the eighties, but since that’s not really a scene that appeals to me, it colored my perception of some of the stories.
If you’re an edgy woman and you want to write you probably read Mary Gaitskill at some point. I think it’s in the contract somewhere that you gotta. So here I am, grouchy feminist, mid thirties, writer, missing New York, reading my Mary Gaitskill. Well, I’m sorry to say I found this collection quite disappointing, not that edgy, and (surprising to me!) sort of….badly written. All the lead characters in all the stories have different names but sort of blend together and feel like the same meandering, angsty young woman. Most of the male characters are creeps. Some of the stories are amusing but for the majority of these pages, I just didn’t care.
dark
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The taboos in relationships are explored--resentment, self-hatred, self-doubt, the desire for dominance, the battle for power--how these things impact the way relationships are created and unfold and how we either sustain or end them.
Gaitskill looks at romantic, sexual, platonic and familial relationships and illustrates them with sufficient complexity and honors their dynamic nature. The way we feel about ourselves and each other change over time and the way we feel about ourselves influences how we feel about others and vice versa. We're capable of reducing people to fit a niche in our life, whether through cruelty or idolization, and then ignoring, resenting and demonizing them when they fail to meet our expectations. With self-reflection, we can come to terms with accepting that all relationships and people are flawed, that our expectations can be lofty and/or ill-defined, and recognizing how our perceptions impact the trajectory of the relationship.
In Bad Behavior, Gaitskill shows people at different points in coming to this realization, and what I like best about the book, that most of our relationships lack closure yet we still carry around the weight of them when we reckon with ourselves and other relationships, regardless if those relationships predate that of the past relationship.
This is a great book if you're looking for something that explores the complexity, uneasiness but also fulfillment of relationships and can appreciate that not everything has a neatly wrapped ending--we carry on because it's the only thing we can do.
Gaitskill looks at romantic, sexual, platonic and familial relationships and illustrates them with sufficient complexity and honors their dynamic nature. The way we feel about ourselves and each other change over time and the way we feel about ourselves influences how we feel about others and vice versa. We're capable of reducing people to fit a niche in our life, whether through cruelty or idolization, and then ignoring, resenting and demonizing them when they fail to meet our expectations. With self-reflection, we can come to terms with accepting that all relationships and people are flawed, that our expectations can be lofty and/or ill-defined, and recognizing how our perceptions impact the trajectory of the relationship.
In Bad Behavior, Gaitskill shows people at different points in coming to this realization, and what I like best about the book, that most of our relationships lack closure yet we still carry around the weight of them when we reckon with ourselves and other relationships, regardless if those relationships predate that of the past relationship.
This is a great book if you're looking for something that explores the complexity, uneasiness but also fulfillment of relationships and can appreciate that not everything has a neatly wrapped ending--we carry on because it's the only thing we can do.
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Oh my god! This book is soooo dirty. I didn't think the prose was as masterful as Veronica, but it was still pretty amazing. And the stories "Heaven" and Secretary" were just so purrfect.
in sewers all over the world, in garbage bins, in abandoned buildings, in the damp and the cold, rats fight over scraps, make homes from refuse and procreate. nearby, humans do the same.
scumbags! masochists! vapid, pungent lowlifes! humans! i love us.
scumbags! masochists! vapid, pungent lowlifes! humans! i love us.
Mary Gaitskill has such an amazing way of writing characters who have so many layers and feel very real. I was so pulled in by her writing. Each story also has a very strong feeling of being connected to the others, but not in a way that's easy to pinpoint. It was so interesting to read them and slowly begin to feel very familiar with the stories, but not in a way that feels repetitive or predictable. It was a really cool, immersive experience.
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
In therapy, there’s a commonly recited adage that hurt people hurt people, and that would make a fine alternative title for Mary Gaitskill’s short story collection. Sometimes the adage plays out literally, as in the several stories that feature sadomasochistic sex, but even when people aren’t hurting or being hurt in sexual ways, Gaitskill returns again and again to hurtfulness in relationships. Her language is cold and precise, even as her characters experience spirals of shame or alienation. Many of the characters and scenarios seem identical from story to story, which might be thematically significant, or perhaps just evidence of Gaitskill’s narrow frame of reference. I didn’t hate this collection, but I very much doubt I’d read it a second time