No Takebacks

by Patty Friedmann

Otto Fisher has ADHD. He’s also adopted. At thirteen, he never thought much about where he came from until his seventh-grade teacher at the prestigious St. Michael’s school in New Orleans asks her class to write about an ancestor. Each student must perform their piece in a school play. Otto’s adoptive mother, whom he adores, helps him write about one of her ancestors, who was in the Holocaust.Otto’s story is the most moving of all—but not for his father, a college English professor who is also a racist and an anti-Semite.The play triggers a series of conflicts in the Fisher household, culminating in Otto’s father beating his mother. Otto’s older sister, Ada, stops the fight. Then their father moves out. Which leaves Otto torn between the mother and sister he adores and the father he desperately needs. When he goes to visit his father, a series of events forces everyone in the Fisher family to question the meaning of family.In this funny, bittersweet, poignant and thoroughly engaging short novel, Otto narrates the story of his young life with humor, grace and surprising insight.

175 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 30, 2012

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

[Joanne Dahme · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talk about feeling conflicted. As an adult reader, I was both appalled and incredibly moved by the generous and resilient Otto as he attempted to navigate an inexplicable adult world that veered at ninety degree angles between love and extreme cruelty. Thirteen-year old Otto is an amazing and unforgettable narrator and despite the fact that he has ADHD, which adds another layer of stress to his already challenging life, he approaches each day as an opportunity to gain the love of a father that despises him because of his Jewish heritage. The short novel by Patty Friedmann (146 pages) was taunt and riveting and I doubt that anyone will think of putting it down till the finish. Tiny Satchel Press published another young adult novel that is a winner.