Self-Esteem: A Novel

Successful self-help writer Dr. James Crawford is not happy. Crawford's professional success is greater than ever but his personal life is falling apart. He has endorsed a children’s TV show based on his writings, but the cartoon-like host could be up to no less than murder. During a nasty drinking binge, Crawford struggles with his wife and son and his son’s strange mentor, a popular talk show host, a business partner tired of Crawford's aspirations, a mistress who doesn’t understand him, an emotionally distant professor, a couple of college pranksters, a successful rap artist, and an ominous tormentor — all of whom seem to be pushing the famous guru toward emotional destruction. Self-Esteem is a dark and earthy satire on vacuous "self help" culture with a careening air of inevitable catastrophe. It's juicy, dirty, and funnily serious.