Bad Behavior
Mary Gaitskill1988

Strange without being quirky and the perfect degree of naughty, Mary Gaitskill’s 1988 debut collection is filled with matter-of-fact stories about young, disenchanted women living in New York City — looking for human connection, going on Dexedrine binges, engaging in non-PC, semi-shocking sexual acts because : A)they’re just trying to figure it out, and B) why shouldn’t they?

Gaitskill is known for her use of S&M in her fiction (the film 2002 Secretary is a much watered down adaptation of one of the stories in this book), but the tales are even more notable for their honesty, candor, and perfectly unsentimental view of human existence.

This collection of nine stories "marks the debut of a promising and provocative new voice," PW remarked. These are tales of sexual obsession, drug addiction, the darkest sides of interpersonal relationships. "Writing about human nature at its most perverse and hopeless, Gaitskill has created an intimate and almost beautiful series of images."