Fiction Writing Blog Assignment #6 - The Pink Institution

I think it's kinda funny how we have a week long break from papers and stuff, but before the break more assignments are given. Kind of defeats the purpose of having a break. Anyhow, for our Fiction Writing class we had to read The Pink Institution by Selah Saterstrom and do a short blog about it. This was actually one of the only things I didn't mind doing for school over the break. I read through The Pink Institution the first Saturday of the break before my shift at work and was thrown off a bit because of it.

The Pink Institution is a story about a multi-generational family and all the fucked up ways they damage their children. If I could give this book a subtitle it would be The Pink Institution: A How-to Guide On How Not To Raise Your Children. There are suicides, attempted suicides, drunken debauchery, children watching sexual events unfold in front of them, and all around weirdness. The Pink Institution is darkly unsettling and it paints a twisted portrait of a dysfunctional, Southern, white trash family, which is I guess the point. I just wish the story was a little easier to follow. There are so many characters that I don't quite remember the names of people, just some of the events.

Overall, this was an interesting read and I wouldn't mind checking out some more of Selah Saterstrom's work.