"My Holocaust" / Approving book review

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from the May 29, 2007 edition - 
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0529/p16s01-bogn.html

An acerbic look at the Holocaust industry

In 'My Holocaust,' Tova Reich skewers those who merchandise suffering.

Tom A. Peter

Can any one group lay claim to the Holocaust? Though its victims were 
primarily Jews, does that mean that Jewish suffering was so great 
that it trumped that of others killed in the Holocaust, such as 
Poles, Gypsies, and homosexuals? Does the genocide define the Jewish 
identity? Or, speaking more broadly, was the destruction of the 
Jewish population so great that the Holocaust deserves more attention 
than other genocides?

These are questions normally handled with the highest degree of 
caution and deference, but not in the case of author Tova Reich. In 
her fourth and latest novel, My Holocaust, Ms. Reich takes these 
issues on in a delightfully irreverent style certain to break even 
the sternest of readers.

Though the book will undoubtedly ruffle the feathers of the 
politically correct, anyone with reasonably thick skin and a sense of 
humor would be challenged to make it all the way through "My 
Holocaust" without laughing out loud. But like most intelligent 
humor, its real merit comes from its social commentary. Reich's 
intent is not to be glib about the Holocaust, but rather to pillory 
those who've profaned its memory for their own purposes.

At the center of the novel is Holocaust survivor Maurice Messer and 
his son Norman, inheritor of the Holocaust legacy and thus a 
second-generation survivor. With a bit less tact than a used car 
salesman, the father-son team runs Holocaust Connections, Inc., 
providing clients with honorary links to the tragic event, in 
addition to running a museum. For example, Norman helps an anti-fur 
organization claim the "moral stamp of the Holocaust" by drawing a 
parallel between fur products and hair shorn from Jews before 
entering the gas chambers.

Anyone can share in the suffering of the Holocaust and the moral 
authority it supplies, provided they're willing to donate money to 
Maurice's cherished United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The Messers world turns upside down, however, when Norman's 
20-year-old daughter Nechama, a regular "Holocaust princess," 
tarnishes the family name by becoming a nun at a convent just outside 
Auschwitz. While Norman struggles to bring his daughter back into the 
fold, his father risks ceding control of his museum to the vacuous 
Bunny Bacon in order to get a $10 million donation from Bunny's 
mother.

To make matters worse, Bunny wants to cheapen the Holocaust making it 
overly inclusive. As a first step, she plans to "hire [museum] 
employees of all races and religions and minorities and sexual 
orientations in order to elevate the Holocaust from just a Jewish 
hang-up with which the Jews were guilt tripping the rest of the world 
to the level of a universal archetype with all-purpose generic 
lessons and implications for everyone."

What ensues is a hilarious - and, at times, uncomfortable - 
commentary about the human tendency to aggrandize individual 
suffering and use it as a claim to any number of entitlements.

While other books have grappled with the issue of the Jewish identity 
and the Holocaust, addressing it as a work of satirical fiction 
allows Reich far more wiggle room than her contemporaries.

Controversial Jewish scholar Norman Finkelstein, himself a "second 
generation survivor," took on many of the same issues in his 
nonfiction work entitled The Holocaust Industry, which argues that 
the Jewish community exploits their experience in the Holocaust to 
gain unreasonable political and social advantages. His work was 
strongly criticized and pushed into the margins.

By confronting these issues in a light-hearted, fictionalized format, 
Reich softens the potential sting without losing any poignancy. 
Unlike a scholarly text, Reich is free to utilize her artistic 
license to make sure that no one escapes without a quick satirical 
lashing.

Still, underneath all of Reich's barbs, is an underlying compassion 
for all her characters that allows us to view someone like Maurice as 
a compelling character even in the midst of his sleaziest sales pitch.

If any fault can be found with the novel, it's when Reich lingers on 
her characters' stream of conscious meditations as they interact with 
one another. While these often carry the work and provide some of its 
most entertaining moments, at times Reich overindulges, and the 
story's pace lags.

Still, it's a small price to pay for those moments when Reich is at her best.

* Tom A. Peter is an intern at the Monitor.

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