A Little Bit Ruined: A Novel

by Patty Friedmann

It’s been seven years, and Eleanor Rushing is still waiting for Maxim Walters, the love of her life, to leave his wife and move into her rambling mansion on St. Charles Avenue. But when she meets Dr. Richard Kimball—tall, dark, handsome, and a plastic surgeon—her life takes on a whole new direction. Smitten, she decides to go under his knife to alter her looks, and her life. But the summer of 2005 has other plans in store and Hurricane Katrina interrupts Eleanor’s transformation.
As the water rises, self-absorbed Eleanor, thinking only skin deep, floats on the surface of the disaster. She and her longtime housekeeper Naomi wade through the flooded streets of New Orleans, and wind up in Houston along with Dr. Kimball, who gives Eleanor more plastic surgery. This time the result is hideous. Eleanor returns to New Orleans with a body as wrecked as the city and neither will ever be the same. 
In this tragicomic novel, Patty Friedmann deftly exposes the damaged and tenuously intact faces of New Orleans. Friedmann helps us to understand that transformation is probably the most difficult image to process—especially when change has been wrought by someone or something beyond our control.

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Patty Friedmann is a darkly comic New Orleans novelist whose dozen works include the Amazon perennial bestseller Too Jewish and the celebrated Secondhand Smoke. Her essays, short stories, and reviews have appeared in Newsweek, Publishers Weekly, New Orleans Noir, Short Story, and Oxford American, among other places. A novel titled An Organized Panic and a collection of her stories titled Where Do They All Come From are 2017 releases. Patty has had two husbands, two children, and three grandchildren, and currently lives with an annoying philodendron.

Reviews

[Chana · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a confusing book. I think that what the author is trying to do is draw an analogy between plastic surgery and the devastation of New Orleans in the hurricane Katrina. But maybe not, as before the hurricane our main character suffered a horrible accident. She suffered this accident as a child and now lives in her grandfather's gorgeous mansion, a damaged and incompetent adult being taken care of by an old black servant who has been with the family for years. So I guess that this is a microcosm of New Orleans for the author. Then the hurricane hits and our main character becomes quite competent overnight. What is this about? Maybe it represents the way New Orleans must use strengths it doesn't know it has in order to survive at all? What the plastic surgery all had to do with it,I don't know, except that she falls in love with her plastic surgeon. Also her descriptions of plastic surgery made me think twice about the way I have longed for the money to try some of it myself. At the end of the day I don't really know what this book is about. Good luck to whoever reads it next.

[Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It could have been called, "When plastic surgery goes bad and you simultaneously lose your mind over some married man."

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a bias toward books that center on New Orleans and hurricane Katrina. Why? Well…. I live here and remember that hurricane vividly since I went through it. Putting that aside I liked this book and the story. The main character falls in with a doctor who has done surgery on her. She fantasizes about being with this doctor and falling in love with him. All the while, Katrina is heading towards the city. The author did a good job describing what it was like going through the hurricane and it’s aftermath. Water in the streets, stuck in traffic , and staying in a hotel in Houston are just great examples of what I went through when the hurricane hit.

[Darlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is set in New Orleans just before, during and after Katrina. It captures what was going on in the city but manages to be funny at the same time--quite a coup. The main character is a priveleged woman who grew up in New Orleans and has no idea how to take care of herself without her help. Her housekeeper, who knows her all too well, doesn't mind telling her when she's totally screwing up. I couldn't quite tell if the main character was truly crazy or just a little eccentric. I often have that problem with real people in New Orleans.

[Jen Courtright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fell in love with Elenor Rushing! She has such a dry wit about her. Did not know that this was a follow up book until I was already a good way through, but did not feel like the story was incomplete because of it.

[Patty Friedmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Katrina novel and sequel to Eleanor Rushing: time already has shown it was a terrific story to be told, even if unexpected in light of what the media focused on.

[Dianne]

Started this book today....haven't tossed it by the wayside yet, so I will let you know.