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Title: Beauty and the Beast in Man
Review: Gaitskill's central theme is, I think, the relationship between love and lust. Is being beautiful a fatal gift? The main relationship she describes is between Alison, the former model, and Veronica the unlikable AIDS infected proofreading temp, but there are multiple other dyads and triads, all illustrating types of love.This represents an advance in Gaitskill's work in many ways. It is more ambitious and profound, but also, I am afraid, a little less readable than her early work. If you're new to Gaitskill I would recommend starting with her earlier work, such as "Bad Behavior" which is written in a more straightforward style (and also contains more humor). In this one she uses a fancy-shmancy system of flashbacks, so that sometimes you don't know whether what you're reading is about the framing day in California, or reminiscences of Alison's childhood in New Jersey, or experiences in New York, or San Francisco or Paris.
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