The comparison

I'm now reading Mary Gaitskill's latest. I have read her story collections, and I noticed at some point she often makes observations about the relative social--or sexual--standing of two characters, and that these rankings cut across each other in interesting ways. Which I suppose is another way of saying she's interested in power relations. I can think of different stories where a character runs into an old friend and immediately notices who is dressed better, who is more successful; and then that judgment will usually be challenged in some way later on. It seems to me that one of her favorite themes is the fickle nature of sexual power and how it can play against other expectations. This book is no departure, although the title of her other novel, Two Girls Fat and Thin, made the interest more explicit.