MARY GAITSKILL is the author of the story collections Bad Behavior, Because They Wanted To (nominated for a PEN/Faulkner Award), and Don't Cry, and the novels Veronica (nominated for a National Book Award) 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.
One of Huffington Post's 2015 Fall 33 Can't-Miss New ReadsOne of
Kirkus Reviews 21 Must Read Fall BooksA Refinery29 Fall fiction
Great American Novels pickAn Entertainment Weekly pick for
Blockbuster Novels of Fall 2015
"The Mare is a raw, beautiful story about love and mutual delusion,
in which the fierce erotics of mother love and romantic love and
even horse fever are swirled together." --Maureen Corrigan's Best
Books of 2015, NPR's Fresh Air "Gaitskill has not lost her gift for
transforming the outside world into the particular vision of one of
her characters, rich and perplexed, and The Mare ripples with
internal emotional movement, but it is also a physical novel . . .
the book is an exciting read. Nothing stands still, not the horses,
not the violent mother or the would-be mother, not the vicious
jealous friends, not the boyfriend or husband, not the sky."
--Cathleen Schine, The New York Review of Books
"[Gaitskill's] strange gift is to unfold emotions, no matter how
petty or upsetting, and describe them with disarming patience for
their stutters and silences, their repetitions and contradictions.
The result often feels both primal and electric, something like a
latter-day D. H. Lawrence." --Amy Gentry, Chicago Tribune "Ms.
Gaitskill is such a preternaturally gifted writer that nearly every
page of The Mare shimmers with exacting and sometimes hallucinatory
observation." --Dwight Garner, The New York Times "Thank goodness
Gaitskill wrote this book, for it is neither Disneyfied nor dark
but a beautiful coming-of-age novel about love and violence with a
soupcon of redemption tossed in." --Natalie Serber, The Portland
Oregonian "The range of Gaitskill's humanity is astonishing and
matched only, it seems, by a desire to confront readers with the
trembling reality of our shared ugliness . . . This is a
coming-of-age story in the way we are always coming of age, whether
we are 13 or 47. What elevates it is the way Gaitskill rides herd
on sentimentality, which isn't to suggest that the work isn't
emotional--it is. It's just that there are no false notes, no
stumbles in the rare moments of tenderness. It's brave and bold to
publish a book like this. Make no mistake: The women in this book,
like Gaitskill herself, are mares." --Elissa Schappell, The Lost
Angeles Times "The Mare is classic Gaitskill . . . The novel is a
reimagining of Enid Bagnold's National Velvet and what makes
Gaitskill such an apt writer to recast Bagnold's beloved story is
their shared obsession with the psychological tangle of intimate
relationships . . . In Gaitskill's hands, even the most raw and
fleeting moments drip with complexity." --Kessiah Weird, Elle
Magazine "The Mare is worth reading for the plot alone, which is as
uplifting as it is gutting. But Gaitskill is more than a gifted
story-teller. She is an enchanter, to borrow Nabokov's description
of what makes a good writer a major one. The particular way in
which she enchants--by putting into words the wordless undercurrent
of human behavior--is explicit in The Mare." --Hannah
Tennant-Moore, The New Republic
"The Mare is indebted, in its narrative strategy, to As I Lay
Dying, another novel that employs a host of recurring narrators to
get at the tangled intricacies of family life. There is a certain
loom-like effect at work in both books, a warp-and-woof texture,
visible only to the reader, produced by the interwoven sets of
impressions . . . On horseback, Velvet is in her own, untouchable
place, and Gaitskill's sentences lift their necks and pick up speed
to match her movements stride for stride." --Alexandra Schwartz,
The New Yorker "In her last novel, Veronica, Gaitskill found a
language for the inexpressible in the form of sexuality. The Mare
goes further and deeper to give eloquent voice to the ineffable
thoughts and feelings experienced across boundaries of age and race
and class and gender--and even, in this case, species." --Ellen
Akins, The Minneapolis Star Tribune "In soaring language that well
captures being "in the zone," whether it's painting or riding,
Gaitskill brings home her theme of the importance of honoring one's
gifts and the hard work of finding the best outlet for creative
expression." --Joanne Wilkinson, Booklist
"The major and minor voices narrating this brilliant tapestry are
wondrously original, poignant and despite all, not without hope."
--Library Journal (starred review) "Gaitskill takes a premise that
could have been preachy, sentimental, or simplistic--juxtaposing
urban and rural, rich and poor, young and old, brown and white--and
makes it candid and emotionally complex, spare, real, and deeply
affecting. She explores the complexities of love (mares, meres . .
. ) to bring us a novel that gallops along like a bracing bareback
ride on a powerful thoroughbred." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"[Gaitskill weaves] a rich back-and-forth narrative that
encompasses falling in love, growing up, and doing right in worlds
of privilege and poverty." --The Bust Guide
One of "Huffington Post"'s 2015 Fall 33 Can't-Miss New ReadsOne
of"Kirkus Reviews "21 Must Read Fall BooksA "Refinery29" Fall
fiction Great American Novels pickAn "Entertainment Weekly "pick
for Blockbuster Novels of Fall 2015
" The Mare"is a raw, beautiful story about love and mutual
delusion, in which the fierce erotics of mother love and romantic
love and even horse fever are swirled together. Maureen Corrigan s
Best Books of 2015, NPR s Fresh Air
Gaitskill has not lost her gift for transforming the outside world
into the particular vision of one of her characters, rich and
perplexed, and"The Mare"ripples with internal emotional movement,
but it is also a physical novel . . . the book is an exciting read.
Nothing stands still, not the horses, not the violent mother or the
would-be mother, not the vicious jealous friends, not the boyfriend
or husband, not the sky. Cathleen Schine, " The New York Review of
Books "
""
[Gaitskill s] strange gift is to unfold emotions, no matter how
petty or upsetting, and describe them with disarming patience for
their stutters and silences, their repetitions and contradictions.
The result often feels both primal and electric, something like a
latter-day D. H. Lawrence. Amy Gentry, "Chicago Tribune "
Ms. Gaitskill is such a preternaturally gifted writer that nearly
every page of "The Mare" shimmers with exacting and sometimes
hallucinatory observation. Dwight Garner, "The New York Times
" Thank goodness Gaitskill wrote this book, for it is neither
Disneyfied nor dark but a beautiful coming-of-age novel about love
and violence with a soupcon of redemption tossed in. Natalie
Serber, "The Portland Oregonian
" The range of Gaitskill's humanity is astonishing and matched
only, it seems, by a desire to confront readers with the trembling
reality of our shared ugliness . . . This is a coming-of-age story
in the way we are always coming of age, whether we are 13 or 47.
What elevates it is the way Gaitskill rides herd on sentimentality,
which isn't to suggest that the work isn't emotional it is. It's
just that there are no false notes, no stumbles in the rare moments
of tenderness. It's brave and bold to publish a book like this.
Make no mistake: The women in this book, like Gaitskill herself,
are mares. Elissa Schappell, "The Lost Angeles Times
" "The Mare" is classic Gaitskill . . . The novel is a reimagining
of Enid Bagnold's "National Velvet" and what makes Gaitskill such
an apt writer to recast Bagnold's beloved story is their shared
obsession with the psychological tangle of intimate relationships .
. . In Gaitskill's hands, even the most raw and fleeting moments
drip with complexity. Kessiah Weird, "Elle Magazine
"" The Mare"is worth reading for the plot alone, which is as
uplifting as it is gutting. But Gaitskill is more than a gifted
story-teller. She is an enchanter, to borrow Nabokov s description
of what makes a good writer a major one. The particular way in
which she enchants by putting into words the wordless undercurrent
of human behavior is explicit in"The Mare." Hannah Tennant-Moore,
"The New Republic
"
"The Mare" is indebted, in its narrative strategy, to "As I Lay
Dying, " another novel that employs a host of recurring narrators
to get at the tangled intricacies of family life. There is a
certain loom-like effect at work in both books, a warp-and-woof
texture, visible only to the reader, produced by the interwoven
sets of impressions . . . On horseback, Velvet is in her own,
untouchable place, and Gaitskill s sentences lift their necks and
pick up speed to match her movements stride for stride. Alexandra
Schwartz, "The New Yorker
" In her last novel, "Veronica, "Gaitskill found a language for the
inexpressible in the form of sexuality. "The Mare "goes further and
deeper to give eloquent voice to the ineffable thoughts and
feelings experienced across boundaries of age and race and class
and gender and even, in this case, species. Ellen Akins, "The
Minneapolis Star Tribune "
In soaring languagethat well captures being in the zone, whether it
s painting or riding, Gaitskill brings home her theme of the
importance of honoring one s gifts and the hard work of finding the
best outlet for creative expression. Joanne Wilkinson, "Booklist
"
""
The major and minor voices narrating this brilliant tapestry are
wondrously original, poignant and despite all, not without hope.
"Library Journal"(starred review)
Gaitskill takes a premise that could have been preachy,
sentimental, or simplistic juxtaposing urban and rural, rich and
poor, young and old, brown and white and makes it candid and
emotionally complex, spare, real, and deeply affecting. She
explores the complexities of love (mares, "meres" . . . ) to bring
us a novel that gallops along like a bracing bareback ride on a
powerful thoroughbred. "Kirkus Reviews "(starred review)
"[Gaitskill weaves] a rich back-and-forth narrative that
encompasses falling in love, growing up, and doing right in worlds
of privilege and poverty. The" Bust "Guide
""
"
An "Entertainment Weekly "pick for Blockbuster Novels of Fall
2015
Gaitskill takes a premise that could have been preachy,
sentimental, or simplistic juxtaposing urban and rural, rich and
poor, young and old, brown and white and makes it candid and
emotionally complex, spare, real, and deeply affecting. She
explores the complexities of love (mares, "meres" . . . ) to bring
us a novel that gallops along like a bracing bareback ride on a
powerful thoroughbred. "Kirkus Reviews "(starred review)"
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