Short Story Goliath

Just learned that my favorite short story writer has a new collection set to hit book stands on March 24. Mary Gaitskill first wowed me with "Bad Behavior," a collection of stories so powerful, so raw, so honest, so ... the words fail me. Let me simply say she writes the way I would write if I could. I can't. So I devour her work whenever possible. 

If you don't know Gaitskill's writings, you should. She's brilliant. And bold. And daring. She has such a finely-tuned sense of women and women's lives that one suspects she's merely a journalist or documentarian collecting the true (and tried) lives of the down and out females who grace her pages. Oh to be that wonderful of a writer!

Let me be clear - Gaitskill goes where many writers fear to tread - into worlds of sexual obsession, odd predilections, drug use and, quite simply, bad behavior. Hope may well be a four-letter word in her world. 

If you've seen "Secretary," then you've seen Gaitskill at work (though to be fair, the movie was Hollywood polished and a bit watered down). The film (you know, the one where we fell absolutely, madly in love with Maggie Gyllenhaal via her brilliant and nuanced performance) was based on Gaitskill's short story. Up next was "Because They Wanted To," another collection of shorts that chronicles, quite eloquently, dysfunction, tension and strangeness. 

Gaitskill has managed to squeeze in a couple of novels, but it is in short-fiction where she really soars. "Don't Cry," is her latest gathering of words. I can't wait to pick up a copy.

Have you read Gaitskill? What are your thoughts on her work?