Synopses & Reviews
Maurice and Norman Messer, father-and-son business partners, know a good product when they see it. That product is the Holocaust, and Maurice, a Holocaust survivor with an inflated personal history, and Norman, enjoying vicarious victimhood as a participant in the second-generation movement, proceed to market it enthusiastically. Not even the disappearance of Nechama, Norman's daughter and Maurice's granddaughter, into the Carmelite convent at Auschwitz, where she is transformed into a nun, Sister Consolatia of the Cross, deters them from pushing their agenda.
Father and son embark on a tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, which Maurice-- now the driving force behind the most powerful Holocaust memorialization institution in America-- organizes to soften up a potential major donor, and which Norman takes advantage of to embark on a surrealistic search for his daughter. At the death camp they run into assorted groups and individuals all clamoring for a piece of the Holocaust, including Buddhist New Agers on a retreat, Israeli schoolchildren on a required heritage pilgrimage, a Holocaust artifact hustler, filmmakers, and an astonishing collection of others. All hell breaks loose when Maurice's museum is taken over by a coalition of self-styled victims seeking Holocaust status, bringing together a vivid cast of all-too-human characters, from Holocaust professionals to Holocaust wannabees of every persuasion, in the fevered competition to win the grand prize of owning the Holocaust.
An inspiringly courageous and shockingly original tour-de-force, My Holocaust dares to penetrate territory until now considered sacrosanct in its brilliantly provocative and darklycomic exploration of the uses and abuses of memory and the meaning of human suffering.
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“Serious and hilarious and utterly scathing... Tova Reich is the master of furys return” Washington Post Book World
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“subversive, painful, brilliant, and, yes, both laugh-out-loud funny and illuminating…” Los Angeles Times
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“a creation that surpasses mere chutzpah on its way to the profound” Entertainment Weekly
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“viciously funny, head-spinning...this novel is clearly in its own class” Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
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“A deliciously wicked satirical novel” The Forward
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“…it surely will be the subject of much discussion.” Library Journal
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“Reich has assembled an outlandish cast...[My Holocaust] is piercing and perceptive and cuts a wide swath.” Booklist
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“...provocative satire…powerful darts of wit and perception… clever…” Kirkus Reviews
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“…Reichs satire is…cynical…often hilariousand likely to cause a scandal.” Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
Successful father-and-son business partners Maurice and Norman Messer know a good product when they see it. That product is the Holocaust—and they market it enthusiastically. Maurice is a survivor with a self-inflated personal history. Norman enjoys vicarious victimhood via the second-generation movement. And nothing will prevent them from pushing their agenda and reaping the rewards. Not guilt, pride, or ethics. Not the disappearance of Norman's daughter, Nechama, into the Carmelite convent at Auschwitz or her reemergence as Sister Consolatia of the Cross. Not even the violent takeover of America's most powerful Holocaust memorialization institution by an angry coalition of self-styled "victims" eagerly seeking Holocaust status.
About the Author
Tova Reich is the author of the novels Mara, Master of the Return, and The Jewish War. Her stories have appeared in Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, AGNI, Conjunctions, and elsewhere. In 1996, she won the National Magazine Award for her story "The Lost Girl." She lives outside Washington, D.C.