Tiny , Smiling Daddy is like Shakespeare for those of us trapped in dysfunctional families. It’s a masterpiece! Reading this story in Scribner’s anthology inspired me to run right out and buy “Because They Wanted To,” and “Bad Behavior” I love how Gaitskill paints characters that can’t get out of their own way no matter how hard they try. Big Daddy in the title piece seems to try his best to make good of a difficult situation, but in the end we see what we don’t want to - people are shaped by their experience and fear. Maybe, just maybe, his daughter can be regarded as self-absorbed, viscious and ungrateful bitch. But what a complete, horrible, hateful piece of garbage this father and husband turns out to be…
Gaitskill doesn’t let up on anyone. She breaks down every day decisions and reveals her characters for what they are.
I think I enjoyed “The Dentist” the best. The title character becomes the person she hates most. Her attraction to the most boring person on this planet – the dentist – may reveal more about her than we want to know. Here is a character who is hypersensitive and accutely intellectual, yet she allows herself to fall into a trap that she can’t get out of. Like someone who enjoys a good drilling, Jill seems to revel in destructive relationships. As a reader, I want to yell out loud, “Noooo. Don’t do it. Get out of there..” But I know the author isn’t goint to listen. She knows her characters better th an me. Her characters really must hate themselves.
