This Is Pleasure

by Mary Gaitskill

Genres: Friendship; Literary Fiction; Women's Fiction

Synopsis

'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.

Release date: November 5, 2019

Publisher: Pantheon

Print pages: 96

Sample

“I don’t want to say, ‘I don’t understand.’ That’s weak and whining,” I said. “And besides, I do understand.”
 
“What do you understand?” she asked.
 
I answered calmly. “That this is the end of men like me. That they are angry at what’s happening in the country and in the government. They can’t strike at the king, so they go for the jester. They may not win now, but eventually they will. And who am I to stand in the way? I don’t want to stand in the way.”