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The Self-Esteem Holocaust Comes Home (2009)

by Sam Pink(Favorite Author)

4.19 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

192661612X (ISBN13: 9781926616124)

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

Six Gallery Press

review 1: 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... more 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!
review 2: "FEMALE: You will never be alone.MALE: [looking at his feet] Stop saying that. It can't be true.They leave the bathroom and enter the female's bedroom. The male turns on the ceilingfan light. The words 'YOU'RE DEAD' are projected on the wall.FEMALE: Hey, what the fuck.MALE: Yeah, I wrote 'YOU'RE DEAD' on the lightbulb. It took me a few lightbulbs to get it legible. I mean, I didn't really have anything else to do this afternoon.""QNNQR: [looks at smashed fry] Oh me too. Sometimes I want to be a really good human and help everyone out. But then I always get this feeling like it would much [be] much more fun to try and hurt everyone. And I never feel the same thing for too long. It makes me really uncomfortable and I want to scratch my gums and face until I pass out. Every sleeping human is perfect and every person watching another human sleep knows it will never be that perfect.""OLD WOMAN: [looking from fogged windshield to the fat bald man] It's supposed to be cold out all this week.FAT BALD MAN: [turning to her, nodding] Yeah--yes it is. Every year, the earth rotates and sometimes it's farther from the sun. That makes it cold. It will happen again next year too. Just so you know. Also, the white accumulations are something called snow, but that's too much for our current lecture. We'll cover snow tomorrow.""MAN WITHOUT COSTUME: [to the man with neon glasses] What are you supposed to be?EXTRA FROM SURFING MOVIE: [lifts neon sunglasses] I'm an extra from a surfing movie. What are you?MAN WITHOUT COSTUME: I'm a bruise.""SATAN: Who?KHHKR: Chad the Fly, from the book I told you about. He was friends with the frog even though he knew the frog was going to eat him. He knew he was going to die. Chad the Fly said, 'Friends are the dead bodies for the larva of relationships.'""MAN: No, I don't think I want to do that. I don't want to sleep in your bed with you [takes pull from cigarette] No offense. But it blisters me to think of that. Please, I don't want that to happen. Promise me.WOMAN: Why not? Just, come back and sleep with me. It's nothing. You'll like it. Blisters are just small happinesses trying to leave you. It's nothing. We can fix those. It's nothing.""WOMAN: [tries not to smile] When I was trying to park earlier--and you got out to move the shopping cart--when you did that, I had to try really hard no to press the gas down and run you over. I thought about how heavy the car would be on your body. It felt amazing thinking about how heavy the car would be on your body.MAN: [scratches neck, nods] Probably too heavy.WOMAN: Yes. So effective [touching his arm] Sometimes when we are together, like right now for instance, I think about being your mom right after she had you and I am holding you and you can't tell me you don't want it anymore. Thinking about being your mother on the day of your birth and thinking about running you over with a car are the two things I love the most. You know?""THE DRIVER:...Anyway, what I was thinking before was that Santa Claus is probably the invention of a pedophile [looking forward again] Think about it. It's a perfect way to keep a kid quiet about breaking into his or her room and then assaulting them. Also, the whole milk and cookies thing is genius right--I'm always hungry after a sexual assault [pauses] and for one.""THE MAN FROM THE BACKSEAT: [looks at the seat, then the driver] I don't want to sit in that seat, there's, blood, all over it. And I just bought these pants.THE DRIVER: [turns head slightly] Yeah those are really nice. I was going to say something but I thought you might feel weird about me confessing to looking at your legs and butt or whatever. Some guys are like that.THE MAN FROM THE BACKSEAT: Oh no. Not me. Attention from other humans is the only way to remember that I am alive. It is also the only way to hate being alive. Weird. I hope my grave is big enough to have people over.""BOYFRIEND: [flatly] Can you tell that I am getting thinner? Do you feel sick looking at me? I haven't eaten in so long I see neon colored particles raining on me from the ceiling and when it's time to float I guess I will stand still. I will act like I agree.GIRLFRIEND: [wipes eyes] You are getting sick and very thin and I can tell that you are a weak, weak motherfucker [through snot and hiccups] If we hold each other we won't float away [clears her throat, sniffs] He's still standing there.BOYFRIEND: He will always be with us. He will never float away. He'll hold the lawn in place. Which is good because we can't afford another lawn unless dust becomes money." less

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