Because They Wanted to

By Mary Gaitskill,

Book cover of Because They Wanted to: Stories

Book description

A New York Times Notable Book

A man tells a story to a woman sitting beside him on a plane, little suspecting what it reveals about his capacity for cruelty and contempt. A callow runaway girl is stranded in a strange city with another womanā€™s fractiously needy children. An uncomprehendingā€¦

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Why read it?

1 author picked Because They Wanted to as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Mary Gaitskill is capable of infuriating empathy. I shouldnā€™t be invested in her characters as deeply as I am: The vagrant in love with her toxic brother; the aging suburbanite who once raped a friend; the homophobic, abusive midwestern father. Gaitskill tackles one difficult character after another through her surgical exploration of the human experience: All the embarrassing things people hate about themselves, the nervous tics, the in-jokes, the often contradictory feelings running through our heads.

Just when you think youā€™ve got her pegged as this dark, gothic writer pumping out weird sex stories, she crafts a hilarious piece aboutā€¦

From Elwin's list on staring into the abyss.

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Truth told, folks still ask if Saul Crabtree sold his soul for the perfect voice. If he sold it to angels or devils. A Bristol newspaper once asked: ā€œAre his love songs closer to heaven than dying?ā€ Others wonder how he wrote a song so sad, everyone who heard itā€¦

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