Complain, shop and procrastinate without shame. Seek revenge and prosper. Obsess on the past and fret about the future.
Performance artist Karen Finley offers such recipes for living dysfunctionally in her book, “Enough is Enough” (Poseidon Books, $14), a self-help parody that she also illustrated.
Finley’s spoof was inspired by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.). In 1989, he slammed the National Endowment for the Arts for giving Finley $10,000 in grants. Helms was outraged that Finley smeared chocolate on her naked body to symbolize female victimization.
“My joy for my work and livelihood was distorted and taken away from me,” says Finley about the attacks. She turned to self-help books, which preached forgiveness. Unable to forgive Helms, Finley wrote “Forgiving Is for Suckers,” one of her book’s 52 cynical “weekly meditations for living dysfunctionally.”
“I say hold a grudge,” says Finley, an Evanston native, who plays Tom Hanks’ doctor in the film “Philadelphia.” “A grudge is a fuel that can be used to accomplish things.”
