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    Bad Behavior: Stories
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    Bad Behavior: Stories
    Unavailable
    Bad Behavior: Stories
    Ebook267 pages4 hours

    Bad Behavior: Stories

    By Mary Gaitskill

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    National Book Award finalist Mary Gaitskill’s debut collection, Bad Behavior—powerful stories about dislocation, longing, and desire which depict a disenchanted and rebellious urban fringe generation that is searching for human connection.

    Now a classic, Bad Behavior made critical waves when it first published, heralding Gaitskill’s arrival on the literary scene and her establishment as one of the sharpest, erotically charged, and audaciously funny writing talents of contemporary literature. Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times called it “Pinteresque,” saying, “Ms. Gaitskill writes with such authority, such radar-perfect detail, that she is able to make even the most extreme situations seem real…her reportorial candor, uncompromised by sentimentality or voyeuristic charm…underscores the strength of her debut.”
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster
    Release dateMar 13, 2012
    ISBN9781451687071
    Unavailable
    Bad Behavior: Stories
    Author

    Mary Gaitskill

    Mary Gaitskill is the author of Bad Behavior; Two Girls, Fat and Thin; Because They Wanted To; Veronica; Don’t Cry; The Mare; Somebody with a Little Hammer; and This is Pleasure.

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    Reviews for Bad Behavior

    4/5

    294 ratings19 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Just read "Secretary". It was a good book that focuses on employer-employee, man-woman power dynamics. I would have loved to see the outcome and justice being served.
    • 5/5
      Stunning depictions of power dynamics, beautiful spare storytelling. Lots of room for the reader to decide how to feel about the characters and events.
    • 4/5
      Many characters packed into each story. The narration is very detached.
    • 5/5
      I was a little turned off by the first story -- sometimes books about people on drugs just wear me out -- but I really enjoyed the rest of the collection. Several of the stories covered "bad behavior" between friends, not just lovers, which I found refreshing. It's an emotionally rich territory that I don't often see explored in fiction. I also really liked a line that was something like "All of his friends were going to Europe and he was tired of it." I could definitely relate to that thought!
    • 4/5
      Bad Behavior comprises nine stories that delve deep into the inner lives of characters who mostly seem to be from the same sorts of backgrounds - comfortable and artistic in some way - and are either currently in a relationship or are ruminating about previous relationships and friendships, mainly against the backdrop of 1980s New York.While most of the stories do indeed involve some sort of bad behaviour, it seemed to me that the stories are largely about the thoughts and actions that lead to and are generated by it. I really liked this approach. Although I found many of the protagonists hard to like, I felt that I could understand them to varying extents. Gaitskill's writing is wonderful - precise and unshowy. It's exactly the right style for most of the stories she has chosen.The only story that puzzled me was the final one, Heaven. It's very different to the other stories and revolves around a mother and the activities of her children and niece. It's nicely written, but I couldn't quite see what connected it to the likes of 'Secretary' and 'A Romantic Weekend'. Perhaps nothing!I enjoyed this collection very much and would definitely read more by Gaitskill.
    • 5/5
      “She was delicately morbid in all her gestures, sensitive, arrogant, vulnerable to flattery. She veered between extravagant outbursts of opinion and sudden, uncertain halts, during which she seemed to look to him for approval. She was in love with the idea of intelligence, and she overestimated her own. Her sense of the world, though she presented it aggressively, could be, he sensed, snatched out from under her with little or no trouble. She said, “I hope you are a savage.”Unlikely couples, estranged families, lovers who have fallen victim to their vanity, egotism and various weaknesses. A superb, lively, gloomy merry-go-round within the heart of the capital of the world. New York during the 1980s is the perfect stage for stories that end with a sad 'what-if'. ''What if''...The saddest words in any language...
    • 3/5
      Interesting but kind of annoying uber-intellectual desperately gritty 80s NYC. I'm glad I read it but it wasn't my fave.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      I'm uncertain about this book. Maybe I am tired of world-weary, depressing New Yorkers. Maybe I really don't like the portrayal of rough, unappreciative, hostile sex. Secretary, in particular, was skin-crawlingly unfriendly. If one of the characters in the book was even in the slightest likeable, it would be an easier go. I lie. There's Stephanie, the lass who does tricks to pass the time while treading through deadly office jobs. I could understand that gal. But everyone else seems so dreary.
      I write mysteries where people get killed quite regularly. I'd probably view these characters as appropriate for killing. Unsympathetic, nasty, sexually abusive, self-centred to the point of utter narrowness.
      I'm not giving up - I'm going to try Gaitskill's more recent book of short stories, and Veronica, her novel. It's a genre that many many people like, and the writing is powerful enough to keep me reading even when I want to go wash my hands.
      Follow-up note: Gaitskill is masterful, but I wouldn't like to be her friend.
    • 3/5
      This collection of short stories is definitely about bad behavior. Mostly it’s kinky sex, but there are occasional drug users. But the stories are not particularly titillating. What happens when ordinary people start incorporating “bad behavior” into their lives? Sometimes nothing much. Sometimes they bump into identity questions.

      All the characters are relentlessly observed. The author takes us inside their minds, shows us their delusions and desires, and all their halting attempts to break out and make a connection with another human being. Sometimes this happens, mostly not.

      Most of the stories are set in NYC, and as always, the city insinuates itself as a main character.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I'm not usually a short story reader, but I loved this collection. It's full of interesting relationships and simple, beautiful prose. I'd read this again and I rarely reread.
    • 4/5
      The stories in the beginning of the book didn't really appeal to me. They were just kind of bleak and depressing. But the later stories seemed to have more depth and nuance. I really immersed myself in them and quite enjoyed the experience.
    • 2/5
      Last year, I was absolutely blown away by Gaitskill's more recent collection, Don't Cry, so I was eager to read more of her work. Sadly, this early collection just didn't cut it with me. In fact, I stopped reading halfway through. Most of the stories I did read were about sad, unpleasant people in kinky relationships. I'm no prude, and it wasn't the sex that turned me off. I just felt that Gaitskill was trying way too hard to be smart, sophisticated, avant garde, fearless--whatever--and frankly, it bored me. I don't want to read about characters who don't interest me, and none of these did. Since this was her first collection, and since I loved Don't Cry (which was a much more introspective and human set of stories), I will still be reading more Gaitskill. But I can't recommend this one.
    • 4/5
      This is an excellent collection of short stories, written early in Gaitskill's career. The tales are haunting and gripping, inhabited by prostitutes, underachievers and other city dwellers. While the scenarios are often rough, there is much tenderness and empathy in Gaitskill's writing, and these brief stories hold a surprising amount of detail, with characters that are mostly well rounded.The final story, "Heaven," is by far the best in pacing as well as overall quality. Fans of well written short stories in general should appreciate this book, but some of the subject matter may be offensive to sensitive types.
    • 3/5
      I have to say that I am shocked to have enjoyed this collection as much as I did. Because I have read Gaitskill's other works, often twice, I did not expect as much from her older work. This book, however, had a certain raw honesty that grabs a reader by the neck and shakes gently, teasingly, and never squeezes too hard. Broaching the, urm, unpleasantness of prostitution and aimless sexual relationships, Gaitskill drops the small realizations felt by characters who are drowning in the muck, but still gasping for air; still fighting toward land they might no longer see. I love it.
    • 4/5
      Somewhat difficult to understand, but stories about people not usually written about. They have difficult lives, and much of their experiences seemed very honest.
    • 5/5
      Gaitskill is great. She writes short stories about bad relationships better than anyone. These are by turns fun, provocative, sexy, sad, and finally, hopeful.
    • 3/5
      Mary Gaitskill paints some stunning portrayals of human sexuality with this collection of short stories. Although all of them are great the most well known story would be "The Secretary" which was adapted for the film of the same title.
    • 5/5
      One of America's greatest writers. I love, love, love this collection of stories. A little off-kilter, a little acerbic, and a lot timeless.
    • 5/5
      If you're looking for a rather dark take on life/relationships, this is the book ... the stories are fantastic.