Bad Behavior [Board book]

W.H. Auden said something to the effect that there are a few books that we each feel were written for us, so perfectly do they speak our innermost thoughts and feelings, perhaps previously unknown even to ourselves. This is one of those books for me, and it's a true stroke of luck that I found it. I wish I knew how to identify who else it might be such a book for--perhaps the hip, the black-wearing, the eating-disordered, the dirty-minded (specifically S&M-minded), the fashionable or the completely fashion-oblivious, the young rocker or writer or painter with a hated day job he can't seem to get rid of. But I am few of those things; I am quiet and conventional in my outer life, and yet this book was like a bomb for me. Most essentially, it is part of the small subterannean body of literature written by the troubled and for them, and who could more desperately need their own literary voice?

The stories are about unhappy young urban women having unhappy, dirty sex, but they are not erotica--they are stories to feel and think to, not to do something else to. The upcoming movie "Secretary" is based on a story of the same name here, although the secretary in the movie is thin and pretty and seems (from the preview) to grow into a sort of third-wave feminist sex cheerleader, while the secretary of the story is fat and deeply ashamed. She is the exception, however, in being a victim in a fairly simple way--most of the women are far more active. The final story, "Heaven," is a beautiful coda to the book. All the women appear without any families, and you might wonder who the families of such unconventional women could possibly be. Heaven answers that, making the book's first visit to the suburbs and providing a mutely conventional set of older parents. The story has in its final scene a perfect stillness on the surface, and you can only wonder what is roiling unobserved below.

This wonderful book may not be better known because it goes so deeply into certain feelings and ways of life that not everyone shares. But that makes it all the more special for those it speaks to. A precious, precious jewel.

Sounds like I'm one of the few who knew absolutely nothing about Mary Gaitskill before purchasing "Bad Behavior." In fact, I'd seen (and really enjoyed - great film!) the movie "Secretary" and had no idea it was inspired by a short story in this collection.

My first exposure to Mary Gaitskill was the short story (from this collection, but I'd read it first in another) "A Romantic Weekend" - something of a long vignette about a would-be S&M romance between an egotistical married lawyer and a fawning, neurotic wannabe submissive. Unlike a lot of contemporary short fiction - with its focus on immediate scene, action and dialogue - "A Romantic Weekend" took the time to map out each of its central characters interior lives in a lively and descriptive way that encouraged me to read more. So, I stumbled upon a used copy of "Bad Behavior" and figured "what the hell?"

I give Gaitskill credit for needling at some tender nerves - stories about drug addiction, emotional abuse, sexual neurosis, prostitution and sado-masochism abound in this collection. Maybe my favorite story in the book is "Connection," about a woman (Sarah) who returns to New York after five years. Told almost entirely through backstory, "Connection" recounts Sarah's competitive relationship with Leisha - a dangerous game of sexual and drug abuse one-upsmanship that crumbled their relationship. Gaitskill is utterly unsympathetic in every way and she has a knack for biting dialogue and markers that bring her (for the most part, repellent) characters to life.

The problem with this collection is that there is nobody to sympathize with. The quintessential Gaitskill character is female, a prostitute or a slut, a drug user and either a hopelessly neurotic or ridiculously pretentious freak. Hey, they're vivid characters, but there's nobody here I'd like to have a beer with. About three stories in I started to feel like I was being re-introduced to the same character over and over again, and the persistently negative tone of Gaitskill's stories don't exactly make this a fun read. I suspect Gaitskill is better read as one entre in an anthology of stories by multiple authors. There's only so much of this stuff a guy can take in one sitting!

Overall though, I give "Bad Behavior" points for some highly inventive descriptions and prose, and for Gaitskill's clear and compelling (at least @ first) voice. If Joyce Carol Oates wrote for a more urban, Gen-X audience, it'd come out sounding a lot like this. Worth a look, but I'd recommend checking out a story or two first before deciding whether you're up for an entire book of Gaitskill's bad boys and the women who deserve them. The Tin House fiction reader features her story "A Bestial Noise" - that'd be a good place to start.

I'd like to add: I KNOW this review won't get many "helpful" votes. Most people who visit an item at Amazon (myself included) check out books they're already familiar with or like, so anything short of gushing praise is bound to come across as unhelpful to the true believers around here. But it's the truth. Mary Gaitskill is a talented writer who seems to write the same story over and over again. It's a good story. But it does get old over the course of an anthology. Like I said, she's probably better read as one entre in an anthology, where the overwhelming negativity and in my opinion, her almost juvenile need to shock can be taken in small doses. Over the course of 200 pages I started to lose interest in yet another over-sexed neurotic - take it for what it's worth.

Gaitskill coolly anatomizes with great skill the dark side of human relationships. Her occasional metaphor is bondage both literal and emotional, but it's never used in a cheap or exploitative way. She writes of sympathetic young women who go through cruel hell (sometimes self-inflicted) before gaining wisdom and maturity. You may wince as you recognize your own teen-age and young adult follies. I find Gaitskill darkly funny and terribly moving. Her lucid, razor-sharp prose is a real pleasure. And as a man who is sometimes baffled by women, I think I learned something.