This Is Pleasure

In Bad Behavior, Mary Gaitskill proved herself capable of writing about gender relations with searing, even prophetic honesty. The effervescent, well-dressed Quin, a successful book editor, and a fixture on the New York art scene has been accused of repeated unforgivable transgressions toward women in his orbit. But are they unforgivable? And who has the right to forgive him? To Quin’s friend Margot, the wrongdoing is less clear. Alternating Quin’s and Margot’s voices and perspectives, Gaitskill create a nuanced tragicomedy, one that reveals her characters as whole persons—hurtful and hurting, infuriating and touching, and always deeply recognizable. Gaitskill has said that fiction is the only way that she could approach this subject because it is too emotionally faceted to treat in the more rational essay form.