The Self-Esteem Holocaust Comes Home

by Sam Pink

Why are three violent policemen in search of The Greatest Dad in the World? More importantly, why are two young men at a fast food restaurant talking about freezing bees? And good god, why are there two young ladies in the backyard during a Halloween party, shaving each others' legs with a piece of a broken jaw bone? What will become of the old woman who slits her young boyfriend's throat? And why does she give him a calculator for his birthday? Will anyone survive? Where will you be when the Self-Esteem Holocaust comes home?

Genres: Fiction, Bizarro Fiction

188 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Sam Pink is the author of The No Hellos Diet, Hurt Others, I Am Going to Clone Myself Then Kill the Clone and Eat It, Frowns Need Friends Too, and the cult hit Person. His writing has been published widely in print and on the internet, and also in other languages. He lives in Chicago, where he plays in the band Depressed Woman.

Reviews

[Lindsey.parks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would give anything to see these plays acted out in a community theater with terrible actors.

[Jeremy Maddux · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contrary to popular belief, Sam Pink doesn't typically do surreal with his style. I think he makes greater use of irony and solipsism than straight surrealism, although there's certainly no question many scenes from his works are surreal in content.

This is, without a doubt, Pink's most surreal work. You have a man issuing ascribing romantic innuendos to a feral cat that bites his foot, someone freezing a bee and then thawing it out with a string tied to it so they can fly it like a kite and three men arguing over such banalities as whether life is candy bar good or just good (I definitely consider this book candy bar good, don't know about life though!). There is also a man and woman in a relationship who spend their entire lives taunting one another and trying to think of ways to leave the other, or make the other leave them all to no avail. They're stuck with each other. There's some unsettlingly familiar social commentary at work there, if one plumbs deep enough.

Probably the most disquieting section would be the final portion where we see an exchange between a pedophile and the boy who is his latest prey. This part reads like a lion explaining to an antelope in an evasive form of doublespeak why he is about to devour him. The boy seems completely aware of the trap he's walking into and, in fact, seems to suggest that it is his destiny to be swallowed up by this dark and predatory force. There is a line of absurdity running through the piece that I don't think any reader would leave this chapter exactly up in arms, maybe more reflective about the subject matter, at worst. The forever accumulating skeletons in the trees that the pedophile pulls down with a rake are an enduring symbol in my imagination days later. I have no idea what it all means, and even though Sam Pink may insist that he doesn't, I think he does.

The vignettes, scenarios and anecdotes that run through his works, from here through Person, The No Hellos Diet, Hurt Others and even his most recent, Witch Piss, all imprint on the reader like deja vu. These passages, silly at first glance, all contain some familiar kernel of truth that registers in the reader's thoughts. To sum up, 'I've read this before. I've seen it in my life... But never worded quite like this.'

That is the feeling a Sam Pink book will NEVER fail to leave you with!

[Ben Covey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrifyingly detatched

This boom is almost beyond reviewing, simply because it is so very far out there that there really are no applicable criticisms. That said, I enjoyed everything about each story immensely. I think The Bastards stories were my favorite, because you almost had the chance to get to know them personally, which isn't something we get from the one-off stories in here. Overall, great read if you can stomach it!

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just reprinted by Lazy Fascist Press, although I'm not sure if I should change this listing's info or a new version will pop up by itself. The editor says, "(This) is a re-release of The Self-Esteem Holocaust Comes Home, but it's a pretty major overhaul of the original. There's a new cover, a new play, and the original plays have undergone revisions."

[Ju$tin · Rating 2 out of 5]

books i recommend by sam pink:

* hurt others (novel)
* no hellos diet (novel)
* rontel (novel)
* witch piss (novel)
* person (novel)
* your glass head (poetry)

books i don't recommend by sam pink:

* the self-esteem holocaust comes home (plays)
* collected suicide notes of sam pink (poetry)

[Ben Arzate · Rating 5 out of 5]

FULL REVIEW

The Self-Esteem Holocaust Comes Home is a unique and hilarious collection full of vivid and surreal imagery. While I want to say I like this better than Person, they're two very different types of works, so I can't really compare them like that. Yet they're both recognizable as Pink's voice. I say get both. The more Sam Pink you have in your life, the better.

[Alex Ferland · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is by far the weirdest Sam Pink book I've read, and I've read all of them. It's a surreal odyssey through total madness and alienation. It alternated between making me laugh and making me feel like I was completely stuck in its perfect depiction of hell. Its cumulative effect is really something worth experiencing but I don't know that people who like something like Person would neccessarily love this.

I still lie awake at night wondering what secrets the greatest dad in the world did not reveal.

[J.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that I've read all of Sam Pink's books, here is my ordering of them, the order I would suggest people read / buy his work:

#1 You Hear Ambulance Sounds and Think They are for You
#2 The Self Esteem Holocaust Comes Home
#3 Frowns Need Friends Too
#4 I Am Going to Clone Myself Then Kill the Clone and Eat It
#5 Person

[Jonathan Lee B. · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Self-Esteem Holocaust Comes Home is a buffet of food that doesn't taste what it looks like.

[Jerome Spencer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know how to review this. It was well-written, although the screenplay writing style was hard to get used to. It had some great dialogue although it made little to no sense. It was well-crafted although I didn't like it one bit. There are SO MANY Sam Pink books you should read, but this isn't one of them.

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first watch this episode of flashforward I thought it was just like the other one I saw. I was wrong. This episode of flash forward is almost as good as my favorite new ps3 game, assassins creed.

I only care about popular culture and this is popular culture. When I write stuff, what I mean is, wow, what a powerhouse this book is.

[Gg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Im finally reading it. So far its really good. I like that its read like a screenplay or read like parts of a play although short plays bc every chapter has different characters. Its well written and the blunt writing keeps me interested

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving it three stars for refreshing dialogue and a format that works in its favor. but I will not read anything else by him as many of these were just bad tastes in my mouth and I don't want to encounter that level of it again.

[Marcus · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of Sam Pink is worth reading. It can get heavy. But what perception. Sam Pink is not the usual middle class New Yorker fiction or poetry or whatever. He notices things that don't usually get noticed. Like a more absurdist Bukowski (without the sexism).

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.
Loved.
It.

[Jodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Usually I really like Sam Pink but this one was just a tad bit too surreal for me; Though other readers may enjoy that.

[Tom Bensley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will review this later. It was really interesting and I have things to say about it but I don't have the time right now.