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Inappropriate Behavior: Stories
The characters in Inappropriate Behavior teeter on the brink of sanity, while those around them reach out in support, watch helplessly, or duck for cover. In their loneliness, Murray Farish's characters cast about for a way to connect, to be understood, though more often than not, things go horribly wrong. Some of the characters come from the darkest recesses of American history. In 'Lubbock Is Not a Place of the Spirit,' a Texas Tech student recognizable as John Hinckley, Jr. writes hundreds of songs for Jodie Foster as he grows increasingly estranged from reality. Other characters are recognizable only in the sense that their situations strike an emotional chord. The young couple in 'The Thing About Norfolk,' socially isolated after a cross-country move, are dismayed to find themselves unable to resist sexually deviant urges. And in the deeply touching title story, a couple stretched to their limit after the husband's layoff struggle to care for their emotionally unbalanced young son. Set in cities across America and spanning the last half-century, this collection draws a bead on our national identity, distilling our obsessions, our hauntings, our universal predicament.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
6 people are currently reading
402 people want to read
About the author
Murray Farish
1 book4 followersFiction by Murray Farish has appeared in The Missouri Review, Epoch, Roanoke Review, and Black Warrior Review, among other publications. He has been awarded the William Peden Prize, the Phoebe Fiction Prize, and the Donald Barthelme Memorial Fellowship Prize. Farish lives with his wife and two sons in St. Louis, Missouri, where he teaches writing and literature at Webster University. Inappropriate Behavior is his first book.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
December 20, 2013
Nine solid short stories, original and thought provoking. My favorite was Ready For Schmelling, in which the corporate world of cubicled workers' workaday world is brought into play, and then skewed ever so slightly when an extremely odd act of rebellion is witnessed. I audibly snorted in sad recognition as I read the passage 'the single most important task one can master in business is that of assigning blame.' Sound familiar?
What may be termed as inappropriate behavior sometimes escalates into something else entirely - madness, for one. Fascination morphs into thoughts of murder, obsession begets a future assassination. Likewise, there are times when inappropriate behavior can also indicate brilliance beyond what others can see or understand.
This was a first-reads giveaway and was most engaging, thank you.
What may be termed as inappropriate behavior sometimes escalates into something else entirely - madness, for one. Fascination morphs into thoughts of murder, obsession begets a future assassination. Likewise, there are times when inappropriate behavior can also indicate brilliance beyond what others can see or understand.
This was a first-reads giveaway and was most engaging, thank you.
April 9, 2014
The JFK assassination and voyeurism/sexual kinkiness are threads connecting the short stories in this bold debut collection about varieties of deviance. “Ready for Schmelling” pivots on the enduring image of a man crab walking and crawling across an office parking lot to his car. My two favorites, though, were the title story, about a troubled son and his father’s unemployment (it ends with a fantastic litany of rhetorical questions, followed by a fairy tale from the son’s perspective) and “I Married an Optimist” – “Which is a hell of a thing to just find out, admittedly, after nearly two years of marriage” (the first line follows on from the title – I love that!). The narrator is a pessimist, beaten up when he tries to be a Good Samaritan, yet everything seems to change with the last line of the story, as hope enters in despite all evidence to the contrary. I look forward to more from Farish, a professor at Webster University in St. Louis.
March 12, 2014
*Review originally published by Curbside Splendor*
I recently attended a small press event at Chicago's Unabridged Books. One of the first books to grab my attention was Murray Farish's debut story collection, Inappropriate Behavior, forthcoming from Milkweed Editions this spring. The book does a number on you before you've even opened it—that cover. It's a great cover: a square of light from a window falls on a dark lawn, the oblong silhouette of a figure standing inside stretches out along the grass. There's a duality at work here: the watcher is in a lit room, peering out into darkness, while the reader lurks outside, crouched behind a bit of shrubbery, looking in, clandestine.
And this feeling doesn't go away. From its first pages, Inappropriate Behavior feels like an exercise in voyeurism; we are shown things these characters surely would not want us to see, or we watch them see what they shouldn't see. They are men and women, desperate one and all, pushed to their limits and compelled to transform lest they implode entirely.
The book opens with "The Passage," wherein a young man shipping across the Atlantic to study abroad discovers his peculiar and secretive bunkmate is none other than Lee Harvey Oswald. The story takes place during 1959, four years before Oswald assassinated JFK, and seems to exist to remind us that we are not prescient; that our thoughts, feelings, and actions exist in their own world, unaffected by the events that follow. What if the reality is that we're always just one incremental decision away from changing our lives? "Of course, there was the biggest question of all," the protagonist muses. "It's been with him every day since and will be forever, and it's the one question he has an answer for: What did you do about it, Joe Bill? And the answer is, nothing."
In "The Thing about Norfolk," (a story that stays with you like an open-palm slap to the face), a cautiously optimistic couple moves to Virginia so the husband can attend graduate school. Finding it difficult to make friends, the couple keeps to themselves. Their next door neighbor's bathroom blinds are always left open, and the couple can't help noticing the fifteen-year-old daughter who showers and examines her body there in an almost defiant state of exhibitionism.
Their initially bemused reactions take a dark turn when one evening, as they watch the naked girl, the wife performs a sexual act on the husband. Night after night, this routine escalates, until the couple find themselves erotically dependent on the taboo. When they confront the reality of their behavior, their relationship deteriorates. It's an unpleasant but wholly engrossing look at how isolation and desperation have this knack for commingling and making us behave in selfish, irrational, sometimes detrimental ways.
As many of Farish's subjects are beyond salvation (see "Lubbock Is Not a Place of the Spirit," a loose portrait of the mental deterioration of Reagan's would-be assassin, John Hinckley, Jr.—Farish clearly has a thing for assassins), some still fight to preserve their last shreds of decency.
Take "Mayflies," for instance, the shortest of the bunch, and yet one of the most searing. A small-town woman, whose life is marred by tragedy and unfulfilled dreams, swears she won't let the same happen to Sandy, the valedictorian-to-be who works with her at the café. When the narrator discovers Sandy's been rolling in the hay with their lowly louse of a co-worker, Royce, she exacts a vengeance in the name of every woman ever trapped by a suffocating hometown existence.
In the post-break-up confessional "Charlie's Pagoda," Charlie has kicked his once-perfect woman to the curb following her rashes of religious zeal, and he's getting no end of trouble for it. When his ex-girlfriend's brother and his cronies empty his apartment and beat him up, Charlie fills the void with a simple summer pagoda he finds in a Target, willing to defend this last sanctuary even if it means spilling someone else's blood.
These stories zig and zag like a game of Chutes and Ladders; characters who have painstakingly worked their way up the rungs come sliding back down with single despairing choices. There are undeniable shades of George Saunders and Sam Lipsyte here—only perhaps bleaker. At times, Farish even manages to channel the absurdity of Kafka (see "Ready for Schmelling," which reads like a cross between The Metamorphosis and Office Space) into his stories. For all of that, hardly a tale seems superfluous. Each story is a slow burn, a fractal of the book as a whole: Inappropriate Behavior starts with a whimper and ends with a bang.
Read these stories; take comfort in them however you can. As one desperate character concludes, "Because we were doomed, and because we need, we so desperately need, we're so fucking lost, and sad, and tired, and when you cut us we bleed, and because if we bleed enough we die, and how, in the face of that knowledge, can any consolation we find be wrong?"
I recently attended a small press event at Chicago's Unabridged Books. One of the first books to grab my attention was Murray Farish's debut story collection, Inappropriate Behavior, forthcoming from Milkweed Editions this spring. The book does a number on you before you've even opened it—that cover. It's a great cover: a square of light from a window falls on a dark lawn, the oblong silhouette of a figure standing inside stretches out along the grass. There's a duality at work here: the watcher is in a lit room, peering out into darkness, while the reader lurks outside, crouched behind a bit of shrubbery, looking in, clandestine.
And this feeling doesn't go away. From its first pages, Inappropriate Behavior feels like an exercise in voyeurism; we are shown things these characters surely would not want us to see, or we watch them see what they shouldn't see. They are men and women, desperate one and all, pushed to their limits and compelled to transform lest they implode entirely.
The book opens with "The Passage," wherein a young man shipping across the Atlantic to study abroad discovers his peculiar and secretive bunkmate is none other than Lee Harvey Oswald. The story takes place during 1959, four years before Oswald assassinated JFK, and seems to exist to remind us that we are not prescient; that our thoughts, feelings, and actions exist in their own world, unaffected by the events that follow. What if the reality is that we're always just one incremental decision away from changing our lives? "Of course, there was the biggest question of all," the protagonist muses. "It's been with him every day since and will be forever, and it's the one question he has an answer for: What did you do about it, Joe Bill? And the answer is, nothing."
In "The Thing about Norfolk," (a story that stays with you like an open-palm slap to the face), a cautiously optimistic couple moves to Virginia so the husband can attend graduate school. Finding it difficult to make friends, the couple keeps to themselves. Their next door neighbor's bathroom blinds are always left open, and the couple can't help noticing the fifteen-year-old daughter who showers and examines her body there in an almost defiant state of exhibitionism.
Their initially bemused reactions take a dark turn when one evening, as they watch the naked girl, the wife performs a sexual act on the husband. Night after night, this routine escalates, until the couple find themselves erotically dependent on the taboo. When they confront the reality of their behavior, their relationship deteriorates. It's an unpleasant but wholly engrossing look at how isolation and desperation have this knack for commingling and making us behave in selfish, irrational, sometimes detrimental ways.
As many of Farish's subjects are beyond salvation (see "Lubbock Is Not a Place of the Spirit," a loose portrait of the mental deterioration of Reagan's would-be assassin, John Hinckley, Jr.—Farish clearly has a thing for assassins), some still fight to preserve their last shreds of decency.
Take "Mayflies," for instance, the shortest of the bunch, and yet one of the most searing. A small-town woman, whose life is marred by tragedy and unfulfilled dreams, swears she won't let the same happen to Sandy, the valedictorian-to-be who works with her at the café. When the narrator discovers Sandy's been rolling in the hay with their lowly louse of a co-worker, Royce, she exacts a vengeance in the name of every woman ever trapped by a suffocating hometown existence.
In the post-break-up confessional "Charlie's Pagoda," Charlie has kicked his once-perfect woman to the curb following her rashes of religious zeal, and he's getting no end of trouble for it. When his ex-girlfriend's brother and his cronies empty his apartment and beat him up, Charlie fills the void with a simple summer pagoda he finds in a Target, willing to defend this last sanctuary even if it means spilling someone else's blood.
These stories zig and zag like a game of Chutes and Ladders; characters who have painstakingly worked their way up the rungs come sliding back down with single despairing choices. There are undeniable shades of George Saunders and Sam Lipsyte here—only perhaps bleaker. At times, Farish even manages to channel the absurdity of Kafka (see "Ready for Schmelling," which reads like a cross between The Metamorphosis and Office Space) into his stories. For all of that, hardly a tale seems superfluous. Each story is a slow burn, a fractal of the book as a whole: Inappropriate Behavior starts with a whimper and ends with a bang.
Read these stories; take comfort in them however you can. As one desperate character concludes, "Because we were doomed, and because we need, we so desperately need, we're so fucking lost, and sad, and tired, and when you cut us we bleed, and because if we bleed enough we die, and how, in the face of that knowledge, can any consolation we find be wrong?"
June 22, 2014
Very, very good. Some of these stories seem effortless until they provide you with wonderful glimpses into the depth and and humanity of the characters. You receive more than a sense of satisfaction-- the "ah,-I-get-it-now" sense that some clever stories mete out. You sense delight, awe, joy. That Marianne Moore line kept rattling around my mind after I read this book through in one day: "Satisfaction is a lowly thing, how pure a thing is joy."
December 6, 2020
Solid 3.5 stars. The last story, Inappropriate Behavior really got to me.
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March 23, 2014The title of this book doesn't beat around the bush. As it suggests, this collection pulls together a variety of stories linked by its characters running the gamut of bad behavior. The full spectrum of inappropriate is included, from little white lies that spin out of control to full-on premeditated murder. And it starts before the end of page one, with the first story's main character making the simple and seemingly innocent decision to lie by omission, a decision that, of course, turns out not to be so innocent after all. And the characters only get darker from there.
Even the author practices a bit of inappropriate behavior, at least by traditional writing standards. In one story the main character directly addresses readers, essentially breaking the fourth wall. In another, there are verb tense changes throughout that give the story a scattered sense of time. In the titular story, there's not only more headhopping in one paragraph than most writers can get away with in an entire novel, but there's also several pages in a row of uninterrupted, unparagraphed questions and a chunk of text at the end where the perspective and voice entirely switch. All of these so-called faux pas are no-no's and difficult to pull off for any author, yet Murray gets away with all of them—effectively—in a single, slim volume. Because let's face it, his characters are crazy, and they need crazy tactics to tell their stories.
I enjoyed this book. Despite the darkness (which, quite honestly, I always like), the stories are easy to get through, and "Lubbock is Not a Place of the Spirit" is downright amusing, which serves as a much-needed breath of fresh air midway through the slog of gloominess. Can't wait to see what mischief Murray's next round of characters get into.
--
Review by Tiffany Turpin Johnson
Check out more from this review at LitReactor (http://litreactor.com/reviews/booksho...)!
Even the author practices a bit of inappropriate behavior, at least by traditional writing standards. In one story the main character directly addresses readers, essentially breaking the fourth wall. In another, there are verb tense changes throughout that give the story a scattered sense of time. In the titular story, there's not only more headhopping in one paragraph than most writers can get away with in an entire novel, but there's also several pages in a row of uninterrupted, unparagraphed questions and a chunk of text at the end where the perspective and voice entirely switch. All of these so-called faux pas are no-no's and difficult to pull off for any author, yet Murray gets away with all of them—effectively—in a single, slim volume. Because let's face it, his characters are crazy, and they need crazy tactics to tell their stories.
I enjoyed this book. Despite the darkness (which, quite honestly, I always like), the stories are easy to get through, and "Lubbock is Not a Place of the Spirit" is downright amusing, which serves as a much-needed breath of fresh air midway through the slog of gloominess. Can't wait to see what mischief Murray's next round of characters get into.
--
Review by Tiffany Turpin Johnson
Check out more from this review at LitReactor (http://litreactor.com/reviews/booksho...)!
December 21, 2013
I received a free copy of this book through a Goodreads' First Reads giveaway.
A well written collection of short stories about American identity, isolation, loneliness, obsession, and wanting to be understood. While a little bleak in overall tone, Farish does a nice job of relaying the complex emotions of his characters through stories that made me pause and reflect, especially "Inappropriate Behavior" which seems to reflect a national mood as the repercussions of the economic downturn continue to ripple through middle America.
A 3.5 out of 5.
A well written collection of short stories about American identity, isolation, loneliness, obsession, and wanting to be understood. While a little bleak in overall tone, Farish does a nice job of relaying the complex emotions of his characters through stories that made me pause and reflect, especially "Inappropriate Behavior" which seems to reflect a national mood as the repercussions of the economic downturn continue to ripple through middle America.
A 3.5 out of 5.
January 22, 2014
I received an ARC copy of this book through Goodreads first reads giveaway. A collection of short stories detailing various inappropriate behaviors, it is well written and fun to read. Perfect choice for a snow day! Each story is very different from the others. My favorite out of the book was Lubbock is not a place of the Spirit. Definitely worth picking up.
February 21, 2014
The subject matter at times was too disturbing for me. So I did not read all the stories. Mr. Farish is an accomplished writer, but sorry I did not enjoy his book much. Won this book from Goodreads.
January 13, 2014
Very interesting book to read. I found some of the stories humorous and others a bit mind twisting. Overall, it was a great book to read.
April 25, 2014
I'll say it's inappropriate behavior, but appropriately well-written. Who knew stories about John Hinckley Jr. and Lee Harvey Oswald could be so appealing?
August 22, 2014
Really liked the title story.
August 31, 2015
Weird and wonderful
June 13, 2021
The best story in this collection is by far Inappropriate Behavior. I have never before read a story that so well conveys the anxiety of bills and job-hunting and parents dealing with a child who seems impossible. It's just great. The other stories are fine. They're not bad, but they don't stand out nearly as much as the titular one.
March 19, 2024
Murray Farish is a smooth guy. He is so crafty about how he fits in bits of the satire that I'm sincerely admiring his skills.
The characters in these stories are psychologically challenged in one way or another. Murray relays this to us in such a way that kept me on the edge of my seat and made me want more. I am grateful to have discovered a new author that I will enjoy.
The characters in these stories are psychologically challenged in one way or another. Murray relays this to us in such a way that kept me on the edge of my seat and made me want more. I am grateful to have discovered a new author that I will enjoy.
March 25, 2024
I was completely engrossed from start to finish. This collection of stories is stunning. The pacing, the emotional depth of characters, and the incredible use of setting, was a masterclass in how to write short story. I will be reading this collection again, and again.
August 10, 2025
The writing was great and from a St. Louis author. The stories are up to more interpretation (than mine), but they’re deep and troubling and dark. I’m not sure what to think about the final one yet. It’s theme-based rather than plot-based.
May 7, 2016
“The Passage”
In 1959, a young American venturing to Europe meets his bunkmate, Lee Harvey Oswald. And with the historical implications, the protagonist wonders about what he could’ve done. 3/5
“Ready for Schmelling”
An office worker watches a man crawl across the parking lot to his car—odd and I’m not sure I understood the absurdity of the situation which was more focused on the observers’ reactions than the crawling man himself. 3/5
“Lubbock Is Not a Place of the Spirit”
College student, John Hinckley Jr. supports a candidate, obsesses over Jodie Foster, and has trouble with bowel movements as he loses touch with reality. This was odd, but the characterization was entertaining. 4/5
“The Thing about Norfolk”
A couple moves to Norfolk, Virginia for the husband to start grad school. Lonely and isolated they notice a neighbor’s daughter, a naked fifteen year old girl across from their kitchen, and become dependent on a sexual taboo. I liked the characters, setting, the ghost element, and broken relationship elements all working together to create a bleak picture. 4/5
“Mayflies”
After the loss of her child, a woman at working at a diner extends her protection to a young woman—I liked the metaphor of the mayflies in relation to the struggle of the women of the town. 4/5
“I Married an Optimist”
A pessimist discovers his wife is an optimist, and struggles to accept that fact—amusing narrator despite finding his negativity a buzzkill. 3/5
“Charlie’s Pagoda”
A doomed relationship brings tragedy to a young man’s life when his religious ex-girlfriend’s brother beats him up—some enjoyable and bizarre characters in this one. 3/5
“The Alternative History Club”
Farish’s preoccupation with historical assassins manifests in a psychotic teenage girl obsessed with David Ferrie—more experimental and could only go for so long before the delusional nature got uncomfortable. 3/5
“Inappropriate Behavior”
A family struggling with finances has a son with behavioral problems at school. The whole situation is crappy. It felt a bit experimental with style with so many questions, I got the point, but I felt the frustration faced by anyone confronting those issues. 3/5
Farish has a strength for characterization, and brings an absurdity to reality for these lost and broken people falling deeper into tragedy. I found the stories worth reading for the characters, style and interest, yet I can’t say I comprehended all of them (as literary fiction goes). In general, this was a consistent and solid short story collection of dark literary fiction. 3.3/5 stars
In 1959, a young American venturing to Europe meets his bunkmate, Lee Harvey Oswald. And with the historical implications, the protagonist wonders about what he could’ve done. 3/5
“Ready for Schmelling”
An office worker watches a man crawl across the parking lot to his car—odd and I’m not sure I understood the absurdity of the situation which was more focused on the observers’ reactions than the crawling man himself. 3/5
“Lubbock Is Not a Place of the Spirit”
College student, John Hinckley Jr. supports a candidate, obsesses over Jodie Foster, and has trouble with bowel movements as he loses touch with reality. This was odd, but the characterization was entertaining. 4/5
“The Thing about Norfolk”
A couple moves to Norfolk, Virginia for the husband to start grad school. Lonely and isolated they notice a neighbor’s daughter, a naked fifteen year old girl across from their kitchen, and become dependent on a sexual taboo. I liked the characters, setting, the ghost element, and broken relationship elements all working together to create a bleak picture. 4/5
“Mayflies”
After the loss of her child, a woman at working at a diner extends her protection to a young woman—I liked the metaphor of the mayflies in relation to the struggle of the women of the town. 4/5
“I Married an Optimist”
A pessimist discovers his wife is an optimist, and struggles to accept that fact—amusing narrator despite finding his negativity a buzzkill. 3/5
“Charlie’s Pagoda”
A doomed relationship brings tragedy to a young man’s life when his religious ex-girlfriend’s brother beats him up—some enjoyable and bizarre characters in this one. 3/5
“The Alternative History Club”
Farish’s preoccupation with historical assassins manifests in a psychotic teenage girl obsessed with David Ferrie—more experimental and could only go for so long before the delusional nature got uncomfortable. 3/5
“Inappropriate Behavior”
A family struggling with finances has a son with behavioral problems at school. The whole situation is crappy. It felt a bit experimental with style with so many questions, I got the point, but I felt the frustration faced by anyone confronting those issues. 3/5
Farish has a strength for characterization, and brings an absurdity to reality for these lost and broken people falling deeper into tragedy. I found the stories worth reading for the characters, style and interest, yet I can’t say I comprehended all of them (as literary fiction goes). In general, this was a consistent and solid short story collection of dark literary fiction. 3.3/5 stars
January 21, 2016
I don't usually read literary fiction, but I gave this a chance when it showed up as a recommendation for me from my library's ebook portal. Essentially I learned that literary fiction still isn't my thing. These stories are all very well-written, with vivid imagery, intriguing scenarios, and accessible prose, but don't ask me what any of them were supposed to be about, and most of them just seemed to stop and not provide any kind of satisfying conclusion (again, probably a style convention, so I count this as a personal preference issue and not necessarily a failing of the stories). My favorite was the title story, partly because of the interesting use of questions in the second half of the story, but mostly because it was the only story I felt any emotional connection to -- although that was probably because of being familiar with some of the issues the characters were facing, and their building desperation reminded me of how I felt during those darker times of my own.
August 18, 2015
Features nine stories of bad behavior, two of which are about Presidential shooter and one of them has IBS, ick! Other topics include a weird office situation, a Peeping Tom, a violent woman, an unhappy guy, a crazy gal, a PTSD girl, and a boy who exhibits symptoms of Tourettes's Syndrome. All sad, swearing.
October 18, 2015
Well written, but just a bit too out there for me. Often felt like I was missing the point...and I'm sure I was.
July 18, 2016
Great mix of sparkly spiky stories, slicing through a US underbelly with cold eyed compassion
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews