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A review by diannastarr
Bad Behavior by Mary Gaitskill
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
For those who do not know: I got Mary Gaitskill's Somebody With a Little Hammer on a whim and made it my mission to read the books being critiqued before I read Gaitskill's chapters.
With that in mind, opening Bad Behavior felt a bit like sacrilege.
I had spent the past year and a half hunting for the pieces she had picked apart, lugging around my copy of her critiques in my bag and marking up my own questions with a ballpoint pen. The thought of reading one of her own works trifled me so, just because I had set a precedent and cracking the spine of one of her pieces would've deviated from a path I had so carefully laid out for myself.
But Bad Behavior wasn't necessarily heartfelt for the sake of pulling at the heart strings nor was it gritty and nihilistic for the sake of rebellion; it simply was. It is a collection of nine short stories following the lives of deeply flawed and disillusioned adults. Nobody included in this piece has an excuse for their actions, no trauma that explains themselves and there is no coddling or copout for their behaviors - because it is just that: behavior. There is a certain eroticization of self destruction and vulnerability, an omnipotent undertone of angst that simmers beneath the surface of everyone's potential - or last thereof. In it's entirety, Bad Behavior is not a nihilist's masterpiece or a realist's manifesto with a riveting plot and a calloused message on the futility of life; it is to see the mundane and relish in it not as what it could be seen as, but for what it is, what it was, and what it always would be.
With that in mind, opening Bad Behavior felt a bit like sacrilege.
I had spent the past year and a half hunting for the pieces she had picked apart, lugging around my copy of her critiques in my bag and marking up my own questions with a ballpoint pen. The thought of reading one of her own works trifled me so, just because I had set a precedent and cracking the spine of one of her pieces would've deviated from a path I had so carefully laid out for myself.
But Bad Behavior wasn't necessarily heartfelt for the sake of pulling at the heart strings nor was it gritty and nihilistic for the sake of rebellion; it simply was. It is a collection of nine short stories following the lives of deeply flawed and disillusioned adults. Nobody included in this piece has an excuse for their actions, no trauma that explains themselves and there is no coddling or copout for their behaviors - because it is just that: behavior. There is a certain eroticization of self destruction and vulnerability, an omnipotent undertone of angst that simmers beneath the surface of everyone's potential - or last thereof. In it's entirety, Bad Behavior is not a nihilist's masterpiece or a realist's manifesto with a riveting plot and a calloused message on the futility of life; it is to see the mundane and relish in it not as what it could be seen as, but for what it is, what it was, and what it always would be.