Overview

'The range of Gaitskill's humanity is astonishing' - LA Times 'I don't know why I behaved the way I did, and I kept doing it; he kept doing it. And though I might once have easily brushed it away, suddenly I could not. Nor could I confront him. The conversation moved too quickly.' Quin and Margot have been friends for more than twenty years. Quin is an extrovert and a sensualist who thrives on flirtation and ambiguity. He is at his happiest when encouraging intimate confidences from the women he meets. Always clear with him about the boundaries of their own relationship, until now Margot has looked on his behaviour with a mixture of ambivalence and affection. But when Quin's actions are held up against a new light, and his life begins to unravel, Margot tries to work towards a deeper understanding of her friend, the damage he might have caused, and the loyalty he deserves. This is Pleasure is a masterpiece of fiction that looks unflinchingly at the difficult and necessary debates of our present moment. It rejects moral certainties while honouring the ambiguity and vulnerability at the heart of all human relationships.

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9781788165037

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Reviews

Gaitskill's work feels more real than real life and reading her leads to a place that feels like a sacred space * The Boston Globe * Gaitskill is enormously gifted * The New York Times Book Review * Gaitskill's willingness to ignore common wisdom and consider controversial and complex questions from different viewpoints is a true literary pleasure * Kirkus starred review * I really admire how Mary Gaitskill is willing to think about the problematic with complexity and humanity, and without taking sides or engaging in all the fashionable moral hectoring that passes for serious thought these days. This is Pleasure is a breath of intellectual fresh air and badly needed. -- Eimear McBride The range of Gaitskill's humanity is astonishing * LA Times * At the heart of this extraordinary, daring, provocative, pitch perfect story lies the idea that, sometimes, we act out a truth, only to run from it. -- Rachel Cooke * The Observer *

Gaitskill's work feels more real than real life and reading her leads to a place that feels like a sacred space * The Boston Globe * Gaitskill is enormously gifted * The New York Times Book Review *

Gaitskill's work feels more real than real life and reading her leads to a place that feels like a sacred space * The Boston Globe * Gaitskill is enormously gifted * The New York Times Book Review * Gaitskill's willingness to ignore common wisdom and consider controversial and complex questions from different viewpoints is a true literary pleasure * Kirkus starred review *

Gaitskill's work feels more real than real life and reading her leads to a place that feels like a sacred space * The Boston Globe * Gaitskill is enormously gifted * The New York Times Book Review * Gaitskill's willingness to ignore common wisdom and consider controversial and complex questions from different viewpoints is a true literary pleasure * Kirkus starred review * I really admire how Mary Gaitskill is willing to think about the problematic with complexity and humanity, and without taking sides or engaging in all the fashionable moral hectoring that passes for serious thought these days. This is Pleasure is a breath of intellectual fresh air and badly needed. -- Eimear McBride

Author Information

Mary Gaitskill is the author of the story collections Bad Behavior, Because They Wanted To, and Don't Cry, and the novels Veronica, The Mare and Two Girls Fat and Thin. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and her work has appeared in the New Yorker, Harper's, Esquire, The Best American Short Stories, and the O. Henry Prize Stories.

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