Customer Reviews

Secondhand Smoke

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit - Jerusha Bailey was a very funny character and this book had several laugh-out-loud-funny parts. All in all, it made for an amusing read and I'm glad it had a good ending!

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!

This novel is a delight from start to finish. The plot moves swiftly along, the lines are hysterical, and the character development is top-notch. Highly recommended.

I don't know what happened to the review I wrote several months ago, but here's another to replace it. Three of the most interesting characters you will ever meet in a novel are in Secondhand Smoke. Their lives intertwine in fantastic ways and you find yourself rooting for them all. I read this book before I went to New Orleans, and the book prepared me just a little for the eccentricities of one of our most eccentric cities! I highly recommend this book!

I've read most of Patty Friedmann's work, and until now my favorite was ELEANOR RUSHING -- but after reading SECONDHAND SMOKE, I have a new title at the top of my list. I'm consistently entertained by how Friedmann channels the *true* voices of edgy, *modern* Southern women. In SECONDHAND SMOKE, she's outdone herself with the character of Jerusha Bailey. Jerusha NEVER censors herself, the outrageous things she says, or the authentic things she does -- so much so that Friedmann actually makes you stop short of disliking Jerusha. This is the genius of SECONDHAND SMOKE, and in my opinion a Friedmann trademark......