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Secondhand Smoke Hardcover – September 17, 2002

by Patty Friedmann (Author)

31 customer reviews

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A gorgeous tragicomic novel of working-class New Orleans. Zib and Wilson Bailey-Jerusha's two grown kids-think the thick cloud of cigarette smoke enveloping their mother is what probably killed their father. Certainly the toxicity of Jerusha Bailey's dark and cynical attitudes has driven her children far from home. Wilson has escaped to Chicago, married, converted to Judaism, become a professor of Organic Evolution, all of which earns his mother's scorn. She doesn't think much of her daughter either: Zib, almost forty, unmarried and directionless, has made it only as far as the Florida Panhandle, where she's the assistant manager at the local Winn-Dixie and must fight off her boss's affections.So obliviously isolated is Jerusha, only one person is left in her sights: Dustin Puglia, chubby, wise, and fearless, a ten-year-old living next door with a poisonous mother of his own. The two become attached in this hilarious story of responsibility and blame. Secondhand Smoke is a deeply universal tale of blunt truth and hard-earned redemption.

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Product Details

Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Counterpoint; First Edition edition (September 2002)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1582432171
ISBN-13: 978-1582432175
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #515,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #19045 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary
- #29127 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary

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Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars

5 star		58%
4 star		32%
3 star		10%
2 star		0%
1 star		0%

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

Bells, Whistles, Flags and Banners for Secondhand Smoke

By Deborah Reed on July 11, 2004

Format: Hardcover

I've bought ten copies of Secondhand Smoke. I've sent it to friends who tell me they don't read, to English professors, deep-sea divers, architects, people who take pits out of olives, and relatives. This book is universally adored. If Patty Friedmann had a good PR team, her fuzzy-haired profile would be on dollar bills and the U.S. Mint would relocate to New Orleans where it belongs. This isn't merely a great story, but one that covers all the bases, mini and magnificent. Don't read any further--click the thingamajig and read an excerpt from page one. I'd give a toe, not the great toe, maybe the little one, no, a tooth, that's it, a molar, to write like Friedmann.

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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

The most I've laughed out loud in years

By Melissa Meade on November 22, 2004

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

I don't know why there are so few reviews for this novel; I'm assuming that they all must have been erased? At any rate, I was so glad to have stumbled upon the paperback edition of this tender, gutsy, and above all hilarious hit. The protagonist Jerusha offers so many layers of character development, and her constant bigotted proclamations cling to just enough plausibility that you can't help but enjoy her superstitious downward social comparison. What a wonderful outlet for all of life's affronts it would be to have every downtrodden class, race, and religion as your fall guy.

Friedman's editors have done a fabulous job of keeping the pace tight, often skipping unnecessary redundancies between the three narrating characters. A coming-of-age novel for the perpetual middle-aged adolescent, we could all use this little reminder of core ethics, self-determinism, and personal growth.

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

If you loved Confederacy of Dunces, you will love this book

By A Customer on September 27, 2002

Format: Hardcover

Secondhand Smoke is funny and poignant and real. How an author can capture in perfect pitch the voices of three characters is beyond belief. But, the best part of the book is that it is funny while capturing the pain of just trying to get by in a disfunctional family in a disfunctional world. The reviewers who compare Patty Friedmann's work to Confederacy of Dunces are dead on right. This book is a must read.

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

Recognition long overdue

By A Customer on January 3, 2003

Format: Hardcover

Patty Friedmann's earlier books were just quirky enough to keep readers such as me looking for her next work, but this new book is such a quantum leap that I was wondering what took her so long. Comparisons to Flannery O'Connor and John Kennedy Toole are obvious, but nonetheless accurate. If O'Connor had let one of her characters speak in the first person voice, she might have anticipated Friedmann's Jerusha Bailey. MIGHT have, but Friedmann's creation is totally unique. Vulgar, profane, and a failure as a parent...Bailey is still a compelling woman. You would not want to be her child, or her neighbor, but you won't forget her.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

A Dysfunctional, but Lovable, Family in New Orleans

By Rebecca Kinson on January 9, 2006

Format: Paperback

I enjoyed this book very much. The cover of the book compared it to "Confederacy of Dunces," but the only thing they have in common is locale: New Orleans.

This is the story of a lower-middle class family. A mother, father, son, and daughter. The children are grown. Right at the beginning of the book the father dies of cancer. Each chapter of the book is written in the view of either the mother, son, or daughter. I like this format, because it gives you the various perspectives. For example, the mother seems unloving and harsh by her children's words, but becomes more understandable in her words.

The mother is an absolute riot. She's headstrong and proud. Her children are quite different. One is a college professor and the other an assistant manager at a Winn-Dixie grocery store. Neither child lives near the mother, but after the father's death they travel to New Orleans quite a bit for various reasons (usually due to some antics initiated by the mother).

The book is very witty, a lot of fun to read, and I highly recommend it!

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

A writer who knows the 'human condition'

By A Customer on October 1, 2002

Format: Hardcover

Unique characters and visual settings make this tale of human idiocyncracies and near-toxic relationships both laugh-out-loud funny and touching. Most importantly, one comes to the end of this book so fully absorbed with the characters, their meanness, mischief, misgivings and yearnings, that one wishes for more story with this talented writer's insight.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

A twisted yet surprising and all-too-human tale

By Midwest Book Review on January 4, 2003

Format: Hardcover

Secondhand Smoke by Patty Friedmann is a novel of complex and sometimes toxic figures, blame, and the search for redemption. Jerusha Bailey is a harsh, cigarette-addicted mother whose chain-smoking habit may have been responsible for the death of her husband Woodrow. Jerusha also has two estranged children, who cannot flee far away enough from her and her scornful ways - yet when she meets ten-year-old boy living next door to here and who has an abrasive mother, she and the boy come to share a special bond in this twisted yet surprising and all-too-human tale. Secondhand Smoke is a compelling read from beginning to end. Also highly recommended is Patty Friedman's earlier books, Eleanor Rushing (1582430772,[$$]), and Odds (1582431809, [$$]).

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

Secondhand Smoke - the second read!

By Wendy D. on June 6, 2015

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

This is the second time I've read this book, lol, it may even be the third I really don't remember but I do know that I love this book more on the second (third) reading than I did the first time. Patty Friedmann is my favorite New Orleans author and I really believe that she may be my favorite author of all. Her characters always remind me of people that I know or have known my whole life. They are kooky and sometimes (most of the time) weird and crazy but you can't help but love them. She writes with such ease and understanding of the city of New Orleans and I love everything she writes. Try her and I promise you won't be disappointed.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

The reader feels like laughing and crying at the same time

The reader feels like laughing and crying at the same time. We learn that even a most dysfunctional family may finally turn out quite OK, which leaves you a good... Read more

Published 2 days ago by Olga

Enjoyable but not mesmerizing

The author's voice is very strong yet I didn't feel enough of a dramatic 'pull' to keep turning the pages. I'd give it a 3.5.

Published 4 days ago by Sam Standard

Interesting Funny and good complex characters

I enjoyed this book because the characters seemed real. The Grammy was still growing and changing though adversity hardship and loss.

Published 8 days ago by Amazon Customer

Slow-going for me

I got Patty Friedman’s Secondhand Smoke because I wanted to laugh. And I did. Almost immediately, I had one good “laugh out loud.” After that, barely a chuckle. Read more

Published 11 days ago by Russell J. Sanders

A page turner when I Finnished I order two more ...

A page turner when I Finnished I order two more of her books I think see must know my mother

Published 14 days ago by cora case

Five Stars

ridiculously funny and clever!!! good read!

Published 15 days ago by miss brooks

Pretty good

This author is new to me, will definitely look for more. Compare to Anne Tyler, maybe a bit darker. Recommended

Published 19 days ago by just a reader

A funnny yet tender family story.... What am I saying?- THIS WAS A...

I am convinced that the characters in this book are from the same neighborhood as Ignatius J Reilly (from Confederacy of Dunces).. Read more

Published 28 days ago by Cajun Snow

It was something different for a change so I enjoyed it.

I found this book light and amusing with slightly uncomfortable racist and religious comments which might worry some people. Read more

Published 28 days ago by Peter Bistol

which I enjoyed immensely. It IS dark

This is a laugh-out-loud book, which I enjoyed immensely. It IS dark, it IS wicked, but it is very entertaining. There are touching moments also. I highly recommend it.

Published 1 month ago by L. Schneider