Bad Behavior (Vintage Contemporaries)

Rating:
Summary: wise, powerful, and moving
Review: Gaitskill writes like a boxer, punching her way out of chaos and confusion, landing with grace in places of hard-knock clarity. Her language is direct, economical, immediate, and piercing. Every word matters. Emotionally, Gaitskill accomplishes in story form what Joni Mitchell of _Blue_ expressed in song: honest reflections on brutal modern-day relationships and the complex, often self-destructive behavior of the people in them. Her characters are sexual outsiders-- intelligent muscular women who dabble in prostitution or pain-play, sadistic men, bookish slackers, inhibited typists who can't escape the driving life forces of numbness and humiliation. Though her cast members often belong to the downtown art scene of an ultra-Blue-state city like New York, Gaitskill describes the details of their lives with a straightforward, matter-of-fact candor, always resisting the urge to glamorize, heroize, or commodify these perversely low-rent bohemians. Thus these are not stories that one can fetishize. In a lot of ways, fantasy *is* a major concern of this book, though it is not the pornographic fantasy of the reader daydreaming his/herself into the position of the characters, but rather the fantasies of the characters themselves as they manufacture self-justifications for their misbehaviors, project unfinished business onto objects and persons of desire, and, more and more as the stories progress in this volume, partially strip away these fallacies to arrive at new moments of awakening and self-understanding.

It is a profoundly moving experience to watch the unmasking of these characters occur in familiar, mundane places-- in offices, porchways, streets, diners, semi-private interiors, crappy boudoirs. One experiences the realism of attempts at human connection, without the Hollywood soundtrack, the forced resolutions, the cutified truisms. When characters confront each other in dialogue, the point is not to promote some hackneyed idea of "universal truth" but to expose the underside of something far more serious: one's worst suspicions about oneself. Though some have criticized Gaitskill's lack of ending in her stories, I don't really see it that way. To me, she writes honest portraits of complex people seemingly trapped in tough situations of their own making. Her stories end at moments of the greatest internal crisis, right at the point where her characters are poised on the cusp of having a change of heart. That Gaitskill stops the story there, essentially giving her characters the gift of autonomy to choose as they will without authorial intervention, is a mark of true compassion and maturity. It is a gift to the reader as well. I can't believe how I've lived so long without the presence of Gaitskill's stories in my life. Her writing lifts the heaviness from my heart many times over.


Rating:
Summary: Gripping
Review: Gaitskill's prose is dense with specific objects and vivid description, but it never seems like too much, like catalogues of the items in a room or rosters of encyclopedic detail. Instead, there are objects like flowers "in the ugly pastel paper the florist would staple around then", descriptions which undercut idealizations the characters try so desperately to maintain about their lives. Whenever they get too flighty or self-important, especially about love or romance, Gaitskill sticks in a well-chosen detail to reveal their absurdities. When Fred says "It was like a honeymoon," Jane replies, "Oh, it was not".

The stories are funny, often witty, and yet, and yet...sad, as the hopes and vulnerabilities of her characters thrust nakedly into the open. Somehow, I want those characters to get something more than they have, even if they aren't nice, or are a little creepy, or do things people typically disapprove of. .

I think the stories are funny, because they ring pathetically true. They are full of people who want, want desperately, desperately want things so badly they'll try to get them in ways that aren't in their best interests. Those desires, I think, give the stories an energy and tension that really makes reading them interesting. And why, when the secretary hikes up her skirt, I want to intervene, thinking "No! don't!...she's not really going to...oh, my, she's really...". Yeah. Horrific and strangely intriguing.

What they most want, it seems, is some sort of human connection. I don't think the characters find it. Lines like "this was the only kind of connection you could have with people-intense, inexplicable and ultimately incomplete", point to such a conclusion. The fact that Susan doesn't get Leisha on the phone at the end, that Fred goes home alone forgetting his wife's present also point to this. But the desire for intimate connection is so strong in the stories, such a deep desire for the characters, that we see what extremes they're willing to go through to get a chance at it. That's how wanted, needed, important it is. And how ultimately unreachable.

Gaitskill also seems to have a real knack for characterizing people quickly and vividly. Like the stretch-pants woman, or the Korean housewife. My favorite parts are the ones when characters obsess about things like being embraced, "supported by a soft ball of puffy blue stuff". He he. Where the character realizes that it is "stupid or corny", but continues to wish for things like that anyway. The tone is ironic; not every sentence is deathly serious. Or maybe I'm disturbed that some people take such red-paper-valentine, blue-puffy-cloud stuff so completely seriously. There's a difference between indulging a fantasy and believing that the world operates that way.

Rating:
Summary: Mary Gaitskill is one of my favorite authors
Review: I once heard Tom Waits say, "I like hearing beautiful melodies telling me terrible things." That's the perfect description of this book.

Rating:
Summary: Shocking, provocative and thought-provoking writing!
Review: Mary Gaitskill's Bad Behavior is all about the darker side of human nature...sadomasochism, prostitution and unhealthy sexual and emotional relationships. Every story in this book is written frankly and there is no sugercoating of the subject matter. Each story is shocking and provocative and left me thinking seriously about what the characters were going through, even though I found myself unable to relate to their problems.

The one qualm I have with this book is that most of the stories seemed incomplete and when they ended, I felt as though the issues had not really been resolved. Perhaps Gaitskill did this intentionally in order to show that some situations can never truly be taken care of. If you like happy endings, this is not the right kind of literature for you.

If you want some interesting material that could make for a good character study, read this book. I will say, however, that this is certainly not for everyone. If you have a problem with reading or hearing about S&M, you will probably want to avoid this, due to the fact that almost every story has some elements of sadomasochism. I recommend this book, but with a "caution" attached!

Rating:
Summary: Do NOT buy this, because you enjoyed The Secretary Movie
Review: This collection of short stories lives up to its provocative title! The subjects in this unique anthology -- S&M, drug abuse, obsessions, sexual harassment -- are quite brutal. The writing is dark, lurid and profound in so many levels. My favorite stories are "An Affair, Edited," "A Romantic Weekend," "Secretary," and "Something Nice." Some of the titles are meant to be ironic, of course. Each story has elements of S&M, which, I admit, is what compelled me to read this book in the first place. Mary Gaitskill is a great writer and I can't fathom the negative reviews here. Are you in the bargain for a dark, thought-provoking, no-holds-barred anthology? I suggest you pick up Bad Behavior.

Rating:
Summary: Lives up to its title!
Review: This collection of short stories lives up to its provocative title! The subjects in this unique anthology -- S&M, drug abuse, obsessions, harassment -- are quite brutal. The writing is dark, lurid and profound in so many levels. My favorite stories are "An Affair, Edited," "A Romantic Weekend," "Secretary," and "Something Nice." Some of the titles are meant to be ironic, of course. Each story has elements of S&M, which, I admit, is what compelled me to read this book in the first place. Mary Gaitskill is a great writer and I can't fathom the negative reviews here. Are you in the bargain for a dark, thought-provoking, no-holds-barred anthology? I suggest you pick up Bad Behavior.

Rating:
Summary: It lives up to its name!
Review: This collection of short stories lives up to its provocative title! The subjects in this unique anthology -- S&M, drug abuse, obsessions, sexual harassment -- are quite brutal. The writing is dark, lurid and profound in so many levels. My favorite stories are "An Affair, Edited," "A Romantic Weekend," "Secretary," and "Something Nice." Some of the titles are meant to be ironic, of course. Each story has elements of S&M, which, I admit, is what compelled me to read this book in the first place. Mary Gaitskill is a great writer and I can't fathom the negative reviews here. Are you in the bargain for a dark, thought-provoking, no-holds-barred anthology? I suggest you pick up Bad Behavior.

Rating:
Summary: The Darker Sides of Human Connection
Review: This review is certainly long over-due, as Mary Gaitskill's BAD BEHAVIOR has become one of my favorite books and has greatly influenced my own short fiction. Unfortunately, many people insist on comparing the book (mainly the short story, "Secretary"), to the movie Secretary. Yes, yes, the movie was fantastic, again one of my favorites, but Gaitskill's collection and vision focuses on much darker tones. Her writing is not meant to be erotic, but rather plays up on some of the sexual violence that some people misunderstand as affection. Anyway, comparing BAD BEHAVIOR to the movie is like comparing apples and oranges. You should base your expectations of one based on the other or else you'll probably be disappointed.

BAD BEHAVIOR features nine stories involving protagonists who feel incomplete and are constantly searching for some human connection. The collection opens up with the daring story, "Daisey's Valentine", involving two very unlikely lovers who work together in a used bookstore. Daisey is a very incompetent girl, who has very good intentions, but is constantly cheating on her boyfriend. She is immature and certainly dull-witted, but likeable. Her co-worker, Joey, becomes infactuated with her after he has become disillusioned with his own relationship to his house-bound, drug taking girlfriend. Though both characters are completely reliant on thier significant others for financial support, they get involved are left on their own to defend for themselves. It is Daisey who suffers the most, realizing that her poor decisions have left her in the loving arms of a worthless drug addict. Like most of the stories, "Daisey's Valentine" ends rather abruptly, as the mix-matched couple is loitering on the front steps of a rather expensive apartment complex. An upper-class couple is disgusted by them and warns that if the two are not gone by the time they return, they will call the police. Joey's solution is to ignore the threat and thinks about getting high while Daisey feels insulted/threatened by this and has suddenly lost all sense of dignity.

The book features two brothel stories, which I think are excellent additions to Gaitskill's themes of isolation, human connection and our need to mentally create a safe haven. In one of the stories, a prosititute tells her clients that all the girls there are working "temporarily", waiting for their big break as an actress or a writer. This is a very common psyche of most of Gaitskill's characters, who all desperately cling to the hope that better things are on the way. This certainly correlates with the writer's personal experience, having run away from home in her teens to work as a stripper and later being hospitalized for a short time.

In "Secretary", the BDSM fairy tale aspect of the movie has been forsaken to illustrate a very homey girl's seduction by her deviant employer. Orginally, Debbie had used the secretary position as an escape from her dysfunctional family, but finds that the lawyer tries to involve her with his s/m fantasies and occassionally spanks her over his desk for any typos. Debbie is torn between the feelings of molestation and her general lust for the lawyer. However, as he pushes her further than she is willing to go, Debbie abruptly quits her job and hides her secretive guilt of the affair from her family. She is however left with a new understanding of the time she spent seeing her childhood psychologist.

BAD BEHAVIOR is shocking, sexual and very intimate. Mary Gaitskill writes stories of affairs, deviant sex and obscure relationships with very real characters. This book is certainly not for children, but to an open-minded adult who is willing to step behind the eyes of a masochist for a change. Her stories deal with extraordinary situations but almost anyone can relate to the characters' aggressions and longings.
If you haven't read it - you're missing out.

Rating:
Summary: Has stuck with me for years... real and raw
Review: Years later I still remember the impact Gaitskill's book had on me. I believe her insight into relationships and the darker side of human sexuality is second to none. (By the way, I've recently discovered Dennis Cooper, whose themes are similar though far darker.)

Rating:
Summary: Has stuck with me for years... real and raw
Review: Years later I still remember the impact Gaitskill's book had on me. I believe her insight into relationships and the darker side of human sexuality is second to none. (By the way, I've recently discovered Dennis Cooper, whose themes are similar though far darker.)