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Secondhand Smoke: A Wickedly Dark Comedy
"A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES Meets THE CORRECTIONSin Friedmann's warm and wacky tale of family dysfunction and redemption" —Library Journal “The outrageous developments and swift pace make this novel hard to resist.” –Publishers Weekly JERUSHA'S POISON… …to just about everyone--particularly her adult children. Fortunately, poison is the very superfood of the satirist. Patty Friedmann, the reigning queen of black comedy, hits one out of the park with her family straight out of Tolstoy--unhappy in its own way, a uniquely twisted Southern way. Meet the Baileys. Born and bred in a working class New Orleans neighborhood, Zib and Wilson think the thick cloud of cigarette smoke enveloping their mother is what probably killed their father. Certainly the toxicity of Jerusha’s dark, cynical attitudes has driven her children far from the nest. Wilson has escaped to Chicago, married a woman who hates him, converted to Judaism, and become a decorated professor of Organic Evolution. Zib, almost forty, has made it only as far as the Florida Panhandle, where she's an assistant manager at the local Winn-Dixie, doomed to fending off a sleazy boss given to late night phone calls. Only one person, as isolated as she is, shows Jerusha any Dustin Puglia, chubby, wise, and fearless, a ten-year-old living next door with a poisonous mother of his own. Although Wilson and Zib have forged independent lives away from their mother—as well as each other—their father's death brings them back together for a darkly droll, yet heart-wrenching round of domestic insanity. Does it remind you of OSAGE COUNTY? Or THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS? Patty Friedmann got there first! And she’s just as funny and observant as the authors of those splendid screenplays. Who Will Like It: Fans of off-beat dark comedies like OSAGE COUNTY, THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, family dramas with a lot more humor than THE CORRECTIONS, the incomparable CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES, and another mistress of the twisted, Flannery O’Connor. Not to mention Patty Friedmann's other TOO JEWISH #1 TOO THE NEXT GENERATION (formerly The Exact Image of Mother) PICK-UP LINE (formerly Side Effects) ELEANOR RUSHING A LITTLE BIT RUINED ODDS “Secondhand Smoke does not seek life in fancy words and clever euphemisms. It tingles because it’s raw and true … The way [Friedmann] carves a sentence gives you the sense that she’s always known how to do it.” –Critique Magazine
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2002
94 people are currently reading
452 people want to read
About the author
Patty Friedmann
35 books36 followersPatty 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 67 reviews
June 6, 2015
Secondhand Smoke - the second read!
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.
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.
January 15, 2011
This is MY best book. No shame.
November 1, 2016
Snarky !
A word of warning...if you are easily offended, pick another book to read . Very dark humor , but laugh out loud funny, sad, touching, familiar and trashy all rolled into one. I rarely give 5 stars . I will look for more books by this author.
A word of warning...if you are easily offended, pick another book to read . Very dark humor , but laugh out loud funny, sad, touching, familiar and trashy all rolled into one. I rarely give 5 stars . I will look for more books by this author.
April 23, 2024
My wife, who is just becoming a big reader since she retired, brought me this book. She said I would enjoy it.
Why don’t we all know this author? Maybe some do. Maybe everyone does and I’ve just missed it somehow. Her incredibly dark humor isn’t so much about laugh out loud slapstick as slow burning discomfort. All with a Southern Jewish twist.
The main thing about this book is the characters. Jerusha Bailey, the matriarch, is an irredeemably unlikable woman. Even her children, Dr. Wilson Bailey who teaches evolution at a university in Chicago and whose wife hates him, and Zib, the assistant manager of a grocery store in Florida who, at nearly 40, is both afraid that her biological clock has stopped and that it hasn’t, have moved away to escape her. Her only almost friend is her overweight 10 year old boy next door neighbor who has a mother even more unlikeable than Jerusha.
While the characters are wonderful, the plot is mostly good as it winds its way from the suburbs of New Orleans to Arlington National Cemetery. I’m not going to reveal more. I had one problem with it, but I’m not going to reveal more. This is a book you need to read for yourself!
An interesting side note: Friedmann tells this story in such a way that it isn’t clear whether the Baileys are black or white. And the part that is most interesting is her point seems to be that it doesn't matter. These crazy people could be anybody; their color doesn’t matter in the least.
The Baileys are a family that I enjoyed from a distance. I don’t want to meet them. I don’t want to read a sequel. But I’m very glad I read this book.
And I’m going to look for others by Friedmann. The book was published 22 years ago and the author is 77 years old. I don’t know how I’ve missed her!!
Why don’t we all know this author? Maybe some do. Maybe everyone does and I’ve just missed it somehow. Her incredibly dark humor isn’t so much about laugh out loud slapstick as slow burning discomfort. All with a Southern Jewish twist.
The main thing about this book is the characters. Jerusha Bailey, the matriarch, is an irredeemably unlikable woman. Even her children, Dr. Wilson Bailey who teaches evolution at a university in Chicago and whose wife hates him, and Zib, the assistant manager of a grocery store in Florida who, at nearly 40, is both afraid that her biological clock has stopped and that it hasn’t, have moved away to escape her. Her only almost friend is her overweight 10 year old boy next door neighbor who has a mother even more unlikeable than Jerusha.
While the characters are wonderful, the plot is mostly good as it winds its way from the suburbs of New Orleans to Arlington National Cemetery. I’m not going to reveal more. I had one problem with it, but I’m not going to reveal more. This is a book you need to read for yourself!
An interesting side note: Friedmann tells this story in such a way that it isn’t clear whether the Baileys are black or white. And the part that is most interesting is her point seems to be that it doesn't matter. These crazy people could be anybody; their color doesn’t matter in the least.
The Baileys are a family that I enjoyed from a distance. I don’t want to meet them. I don’t want to read a sequel. But I’m very glad I read this book.
And I’m going to look for others by Friedmann. The book was published 22 years ago and the author is 77 years old. I don’t know how I’ve missed her!!
July 23, 2018
If you aren't a fan of books poking fun at dysfunctional families, give this one a pass. It took me a while to start appreciating the humor in it. I didn't enjoy the part where Jerusha's husband is dying, but that's probably because some of it hit too close to home. Once he'd passed on (or as his children, Wilson and Zeb say, once their mother had killed him) I found the humor much more enjoyable. It is darkly witty and Jerusha is anything but politically correct. Chances are, it will make your own family seem a lot more normal.
May 23, 2022
Jerusha “Ru” Bailey is a bitter, prickly, and quite bigoted character. Her grown children are no prize either. Son Wilson, an intellectual snob is spineless and daughter Zeb is a rebel, still acting out despite her being far beyond her teens. Quite a dysfunctional crew. After Ru’s husband dies, things go from bad to worse in her life which she takes in stride in her own crotchety way. She’ll figure things out without putting her ungrateful children out. She is also feuding with her neighbor Angela and seems to have an unlikely soft spot for Dustin, Angela’s 10-year-old son.
Patty Friedmann draws eccentric characters with amazing wit. Well done. I am not familiar with New Orleans other than from descriptions of friends’ visits to Jazz Festivals and from what I’ve read about it. The descriptions in this book are so vivid it’s easy to envision the area and atmosphere.
This story had me gasping, tsking, chuckling and a whole range of reactions. I am definitely adding other reads by Friemann to my TBR list for when I am looking for some dark humor.
Patty Friedmann draws eccentric characters with amazing wit. Well done. I am not familiar with New Orleans other than from descriptions of friends’ visits to Jazz Festivals and from what I’ve read about it. The descriptions in this book are so vivid it’s easy to envision the area and atmosphere.
This story had me gasping, tsking, chuckling and a whole range of reactions. I am definitely adding other reads by Friemann to my TBR list for when I am looking for some dark humor.
August 11, 2020
If you ever wondered what dysfunction looks like—meet the Baileys! This is the kind of story that I should loathe, but I could not get enough of this story nor of the crazy Baileys. Actually, they weren’t so different than many American households. The Baileys bring realism on its ass and keeps on stomping it until you have no choice but to wave the flag in defeat. I laughed so hard at this family I couldn’t stop. Jershua a/k/a Ru was a mean-spirited, delusional, ignorant bigot. She hates every race outside of her own—being white. Not only does she live in a smoke induced haze, she makes the worst racist appear righteous.
Ru is a 67-year old woman living in New Orleans with her very sick husband, Woodrow Wilson Bailey, Sr. He’s dying and driving Ru insane. She’s ready for him to die because his screaming and wailing half the night is driving her livid and she just wants her husband gone and out of his misery. Or should I say her misery. When Woodrow finally passes, she’s not sure if she’s relieved or saddened by his death that seemed to last a lifetime other than the 50 years of unwedded bliss she suffered with him. However, all was not lost since she gave Woodrow the best of both worlds—a boy, Wilson and a girl, Elizabeth, better known as Zib. Ru informs her ungrateful children of their father’s death, and neither of them seem to be totally shook up about it, except possibly Zib who was the spoiled baby girl.
Zib lives in Florida, unmarried and in a dead-end job as a manager at a Winn-Dixie store. She’s a forty-something going nowhere fast and now the only person in the whole wide world who seemed to give a damn about her is now dead. She dreaded going to New Orleans to be with her mother. When Zib learned her brother was leaving his Chicago home to be with their mother, that made her equally as mad.
Wilson is a professor and a husband with four kids. Two from his first wife and two with his current wife. Wilson teaches Organic Evolution and speaks like a scientist and book worm—in other words a nerd of the fittest! For Wilson everything has a reason. There’s nothing he can’t explain away which drives his baby sister and mother quite insane. They are left with a dilemma—what to do for their father’s funeral. The obituary had one sentence in the paper, and it was as sad as sad can be. But the Baileys weren’t ashamed for they forged ahead. Woodrow asked that his remains be cremated and when the UPS man delivered the heavy box to his widow, she all but freaked the hell out. Ru sends her kids back to their own corners of the world and advised them that since Woodrow was in the service, she wanted him to have a proper burial in Arlington, Virginia with the flag hanging over the casket and the sound of Taps playing in the distance. Wilson didn’t see what the big deal was, but they agreed to meet their mother in Arlington to pay their final respects to the man who had helped give them life. What happens at the ceremony had me laughing so hard, I cried. Those Baileys had me dying through the whole book.
After the dust settled, literally, Ru found herself back at home living next door to her daughter’s best friend since childhood, Angela. She detested the lifestyle Angela led because her biggest issue was the fact she was sleeping around with men, but not just any ole men, an African-American in particular. That nearly made Ru go bonkers alone. Factor in Angela has a 10-year old son, Dustin, who has to sit outside while his mother gets her groove on and this infuriates Ru to no end.
Wilson and Zib think their mother’s chain smoking for so many years contributed to their father’s death. Of course Ru has an answer for that so there wasn’t any wonder where Wilson learned to have an answer for everything. What surprised me is that her children didn’t become a bigot like their mother. They understood the ways of the world and all the differences with people, so when they grew up and was able to get away from their parents, they took the first thing smokin’ (no pun intended) and got as far away from their poisonous mother as they could. It was unfortunate the death of their father brought them together in ways they never thought possible. As you go through the lives of each family member, each has a sadness to them, but are quite humorous. Again, this is a story that one would think would upset anyone from the racist overtones, but I found myself quite drawn to Ru’s ignorance and felt sorry for her limited view of the world. What Ru later discovers near the end of the story is really quite justifiable, and even she would probably be shocked, if she were real.
This was an amazing story of an ordinary family, living very ordinary lives in all the dysfunction they could muster. You will be turning the pages as quickly as I had to find out what the hell those Baileys do next. There is so much humor in this story, you will be laughing out loud quite a bit. The story is definitely wickedly dark humor and if you’re not familiar with that type of humor, you may miss all the fun.
The Sexy Nerd gives Secondhand Smoke five stars and counting. Patty is an amazing author bringing to light a very touchy subject with such realism and humor. I couldn’t get enough of this family. It is so damn funny! I guarantee you will not be sorry to read this book. With the Ru’s of the world, you can’t help but to laugh because they are so pathetic. If you loved What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, get ready ‘cause you already know this family’s got issues. The Baileys make the Grapes look like normal people. Enjoy! I know I most certainly did.
Ru is a 67-year old woman living in New Orleans with her very sick husband, Woodrow Wilson Bailey, Sr. He’s dying and driving Ru insane. She’s ready for him to die because his screaming and wailing half the night is driving her livid and she just wants her husband gone and out of his misery. Or should I say her misery. When Woodrow finally passes, she’s not sure if she’s relieved or saddened by his death that seemed to last a lifetime other than the 50 years of unwedded bliss she suffered with him. However, all was not lost since she gave Woodrow the best of both worlds—a boy, Wilson and a girl, Elizabeth, better known as Zib. Ru informs her ungrateful children of their father’s death, and neither of them seem to be totally shook up about it, except possibly Zib who was the spoiled baby girl.
Zib lives in Florida, unmarried and in a dead-end job as a manager at a Winn-Dixie store. She’s a forty-something going nowhere fast and now the only person in the whole wide world who seemed to give a damn about her is now dead. She dreaded going to New Orleans to be with her mother. When Zib learned her brother was leaving his Chicago home to be with their mother, that made her equally as mad.
Wilson is a professor and a husband with four kids. Two from his first wife and two with his current wife. Wilson teaches Organic Evolution and speaks like a scientist and book worm—in other words a nerd of the fittest! For Wilson everything has a reason. There’s nothing he can’t explain away which drives his baby sister and mother quite insane. They are left with a dilemma—what to do for their father’s funeral. The obituary had one sentence in the paper, and it was as sad as sad can be. But the Baileys weren’t ashamed for they forged ahead. Woodrow asked that his remains be cremated and when the UPS man delivered the heavy box to his widow, she all but freaked the hell out. Ru sends her kids back to their own corners of the world and advised them that since Woodrow was in the service, she wanted him to have a proper burial in Arlington, Virginia with the flag hanging over the casket and the sound of Taps playing in the distance. Wilson didn’t see what the big deal was, but they agreed to meet their mother in Arlington to pay their final respects to the man who had helped give them life. What happens at the ceremony had me laughing so hard, I cried. Those Baileys had me dying through the whole book.
After the dust settled, literally, Ru found herself back at home living next door to her daughter’s best friend since childhood, Angela. She detested the lifestyle Angela led because her biggest issue was the fact she was sleeping around with men, but not just any ole men, an African-American in particular. That nearly made Ru go bonkers alone. Factor in Angela has a 10-year old son, Dustin, who has to sit outside while his mother gets her groove on and this infuriates Ru to no end.
Wilson and Zib think their mother’s chain smoking for so many years contributed to their father’s death. Of course Ru has an answer for that so there wasn’t any wonder where Wilson learned to have an answer for everything. What surprised me is that her children didn’t become a bigot like their mother. They understood the ways of the world and all the differences with people, so when they grew up and was able to get away from their parents, they took the first thing smokin’ (no pun intended) and got as far away from their poisonous mother as they could. It was unfortunate the death of their father brought them together in ways they never thought possible. As you go through the lives of each family member, each has a sadness to them, but are quite humorous. Again, this is a story that one would think would upset anyone from the racist overtones, but I found myself quite drawn to Ru’s ignorance and felt sorry for her limited view of the world. What Ru later discovers near the end of the story is really quite justifiable, and even she would probably be shocked, if she were real.
This was an amazing story of an ordinary family, living very ordinary lives in all the dysfunction they could muster. You will be turning the pages as quickly as I had to find out what the hell those Baileys do next. There is so much humor in this story, you will be laughing out loud quite a bit. The story is definitely wickedly dark humor and if you’re not familiar with that type of humor, you may miss all the fun.
The Sexy Nerd gives Secondhand Smoke five stars and counting. Patty is an amazing author bringing to light a very touchy subject with such realism and humor. I couldn’t get enough of this family. It is so damn funny! I guarantee you will not be sorry to read this book. With the Ru’s of the world, you can’t help but to laugh because they are so pathetic. If you loved What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, get ready ‘cause you already know this family’s got issues. The Baileys make the Grapes look like normal people. Enjoy! I know I most certainly did.
June 18, 2024
Racial and dark
I was really expecting along the lines of a smoker dealing with second-hand smoke and not this gibberish. I didn't laugh at any of the so-called jokes and it was hard for me to keep up with the characters.
I was really expecting along the lines of a smoker dealing with second-hand smoke and not this gibberish. I didn't laugh at any of the so-called jokes and it was hard for me to keep up with the characters.
March 3, 2016
Never a dull moment in this family. Humorous and funny just pops up when least expected. Jerusha
husband soon dies and shes alone with her dog Mealworm yes that what he was called , he was a little chihuahua dog. Her neighbor Angela she didnt get along with. Angela had a 10 year old son who Jerusha (Ru) got along with. Things go worse then her house burnt down , she got robbed, sleeps in the bushes and lots of other things some really funny tho. i like this woman she got spunk to her. Angela dies and her son Dustin and Jerusha and her one daughter end up living together at the end
I knew Ru would take Dustin in cause shes a good woman.
husband soon dies and shes alone with her dog Mealworm yes that what he was called , he was a little chihuahua dog. Her neighbor Angela she didnt get along with. Angela had a 10 year old son who Jerusha (Ru) got along with. Things go worse then her house burnt down , she got robbed, sleeps in the bushes and lots of other things some really funny tho. i like this woman she got spunk to her. Angela dies and her son Dustin and Jerusha and her one daughter end up living together at the end
I knew Ru would take Dustin in cause shes a good woman.
April 28, 2016
Powerful, Funny, Sad
This tale of a truly disfunctional family, like life, is filled with humor, irony, bitterness, and people condemned to each other forever.
Written with no-nonsense eloquence, and peopled with characters that are achingly real, Secondhand Smoke will stay with you like the odor of burnt tobacco.
Funny, poignant, and unflinchingly honest, this is a great read.
This tale of a truly disfunctional family, like life, is filled with humor, irony, bitterness, and people condemned to each other forever.
Written with no-nonsense eloquence, and peopled with characters that are achingly real, Secondhand Smoke will stay with you like the odor of burnt tobacco.
Funny, poignant, and unflinchingly honest, this is a great read.
October 23, 2012
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, satisfying ending! There are definitely some scenes that will stick with me for a long time. Though brief, it’s a surprisingly powerful novel. Friedman has a real talent!
April 18, 2011
Jerusha is one of the most unsympathetic main characters you could ever wish not to meet. After the first few pages, you're hooked, fascinated by these characters and their complex relationships.
The story builds via three first person narratives - Jerusha and her two adult children. The humour is very dark but the story is ultimately very satisfying.
The story builds via three first person narratives - Jerusha and her two adult children. The humour is very dark but the story is ultimately very satisfying.
June 5, 2017
Enjoyed the descriptions of New Orleans, though I have only ever been there as a tourist myself. Dysfunctional families are hard to describe well and hard to get humour out of without running all sorts of risks, but Jerusha is a great creation. Wilson is a bit too put upon, but I could see him easily enough. Want to read it again just for some of the the acerbic commentary that Ru makes.
June 13, 2015
Loved it
I read it in 2days ii never laughed out loud but I think I found at least twenty things to smile about. I recognizes myself and member's of my friends and fa in the pages of this book great job .
I read it in 2days ii never laughed out loud but I think I found at least twenty things to smile about. I recognizes myself and member's of my friends and fa in the pages of this book great job .
August 1, 2021
This year’s ‘great find’
Loved this (4 stars is a definite re-read for me, I reserve 5 for my desert island books!). Beautifully paced, funny and sad, and handles the ‘multiple voices’ structure so well - it can be an irritating or confusing method in the wrong hands, but here it’s judged perfectly. Wish I’d found the author sooner, but I foresee a binge of everything she’s done coming on!
Loved this (4 stars is a definite re-read for me, I reserve 5 for my desert island books!). Beautifully paced, funny and sad, and handles the ‘multiple voices’ structure so well - it can be an irritating or confusing method in the wrong hands, but here it’s judged perfectly. Wish I’d found the author sooner, but I foresee a binge of everything she’s done coming on!
February 9, 2018
Like too many books advertised as "laugh out loud" or "hilarious" I found myself occasionally smiling, but that was all.
I found it difficult to engage with a book in which none of the characters were in any way deserving of sympathy. Couldn't care what happened to any of them, just wish it had happened quicker.
I found it difficult to engage with a book in which none of the characters were in any way deserving of sympathy. Couldn't care what happened to any of them, just wish it had happened quicker.
November 8, 2022
New Orleans provides the backdrop for this story of flawed white trash characters, the most sensible of whom is a 10-year-old boy. The plot takes a number of wild twists, held together with snappy dialogue full of truth and venom. Despite how they're always ready to kill each other, their love for one another holds their world together.
May 17, 2024
I loved these characters!
Dysfunctional family from New Orleans imploded when the Father died. All kinds of things happened.
The two grown kids, went back to their lives. Until, their Mom's house blew up.
Throw in a crazy neighbor, a child who raised himself and a cemetery office and this book was excellent.
Dysfunctional family from New Orleans imploded when the Father died. All kinds of things happened.
The two grown kids, went back to their lives. Until, their Mom's house blew up.
Throw in a crazy neighbor, a child who raised himself and a cemetery office and this book was excellent.
March 2, 2017
Dark but not wicked
Chose the book because of the snarky title. The characters are a bit quirky but believable. Starts slow however each of them have some redeemable quality that makes you keep reading.
Chose the book because of the snarky title. The characters are a bit quirky but believable. Starts slow however each of them have some redeemable quality that makes you keep reading.
June 21, 2017
I have no idea what book other reviewers are reading but it cannot be the rubbish i have just subjected myself to. I cannot find one line that makes me even smile, let alone laugh- however there are plenty that made me want to scream and through the book through the window
March 6, 2017
Not much of a story. Too much stereotypical white trash, dysfunctional family for my tastes.
Read
February 22, 2021A little strange but ok
May 11, 2021
MPG said "comedy". I did not think it was funny at all, but sad.
August 6, 2018
A redemption novel about a crabby woman in New Orleans, her dysfunctional family and a cool kid next door. Clever dialogue.
July 14, 2015
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. There is humor in the book, true, but not the wild, offbeat humor I was expecting. Friedman’s novel is a tale of a dysfunctional family—an extremely dysfunctional family. A family so dysfunctional that I wanted to scream some sense into each and every one of them, including the next door neighbor. Told from alternating viewpoints, the story centers around the matriarch of the Bailey family, Jerusha. A strong, opinionated Southern woman, Jerusha smokes like a chimney, holds very strong opinons about black people, and has brought up her two children Zib and Wilson with an iron fist. As the story opens, the father, Jerusha’s husband, is on his deathbed, and things for Jerusha and her children only go downhill from there. Friedman is a strong writer, and she flavors her tale with full-out Southern wit and wisdom. But gosh darn, you just want to slap some sense into these people and tell them to stand up to the world. Wilson is brow-beaten by his wife, Zib is brow-beaten by life, and Jerusha is brow-beaten by her rigidity. Each of them grows and changes, and that is satisfying. But, for me, it wasn’t satisfying enough. I was happiest when Jerusha’s chapters appeared. I found Wilson and Zib irritating beyond my tolerance. And, indeed, even though they each had changed considerably by the end, I still was not tolerating either of them very well. The character with the best and most satisfying arc was Jerusha. She may be ornery, but she is a lovable ornery.
April 21, 2016
Can't believe I'm giving this book five stars but it deserves it for boldness and moxie and it's "don't give a shit" attitude. The writing is good. The characters are...amazing and interesting and even dare I say subtle (Dustin).
So if you are faint of heart or the least little bit high brow do not read this book bc you won't like it and you will think I'm crackers to have liked it bc it's horribly scary at first but it gets better and better although I could have lived without the bar scene with Angela. That made me cringe and made me glad I don't go to bars. But all in all a great and entertaining read with a good ending, I love a good ending. Don't make me read a crazy book with a crazy or left hanging ending. Will want to read more by her. I highly recommend ...with caution.
So if you are faint of heart or the least little bit high brow do not read this book bc you won't like it and you will think I'm crackers to have liked it bc it's horribly scary at first but it gets better and better although I could have lived without the bar scene with Angela. That made me cringe and made me glad I don't go to bars. But all in all a great and entertaining read with a good ending, I love a good ending. Don't make me read a crazy book with a crazy or left hanging ending. Will want to read more by her. I highly recommend ...with caution.
August 27, 2015
Not a bad story. The characters are not at all likeable (they become a bit more at the end) but I still enjoyed reading about this family. There is some humor mixed into this drama which keeps the story moving. Each chapter is told by a different member of this family and I like watching stories unfold in this manner. This is definitely the most dysfunctional family I have read about in a long time. The characters and their issues are at times funny, at times sad, and at times downright maddening. This is a novel about survival an redemption. There are some interesting questions at the end that would make this a really great discussion book for book clubs.
March 5, 2016
It is dark but funny, both heartbreaking and cynical, with a strong dose of hope and humanism. I love how particular it is in its references to places I have not lived--principally New Orleans and secondarily the university-town aspects of Evanston, Illinois--and makes one feel like one knows those places. (I have lived in Chicago, but this is definitely not Chicago). I would highly recommend the book. I would highly recommend the book. At times it draws close to the line of overwritten, but never crosses it. It's a busier book that it might need to be and faster-paced and more formless at times than I prefer, but it's definitely entertaining beginning to end.
March 8, 2016
The characters pull you through Secondhand Smoke like your family pulls you through life. You might not like them a good deal of the time but they're your kin if not your kind. And out of the blue you might receive a rare hug or, if not a kind word, at least one that doesn't overly offend you.
Characters who are not immediately likable rely on good writing to keep the reader engaged. Patty Friedmann does so successfully. She has a firm grasp on the New Orleans neighborhood where much of the story takes place. Southern ways weave through the pages and give the book an authenticity.
I'll scout other Friedmann works and read another.
Characters who are not immediately likable rely on good writing to keep the reader engaged. Patty Friedmann does so successfully. She has a firm grasp on the New Orleans neighborhood where much of the story takes place. Southern ways weave through the pages and give the book an authenticity.
I'll scout other Friedmann works and read another.
May 6, 2016
Best work of fiction I've read in a long time! I had to pay a dollar to have this book sent from GA to SC on interlibrary loan! It's Jerusha Bailey's story, a rather nasty character approaching her seventieth birthday. She lives alone in New Orleans where she carelessly burns her house down. Because she's alienated nearly everybody around her, Ru doesn't know where to turn and becomes a homeless person sleeping under the bushes beside the library. When her son and daughter return to New Orleans to look for her, Ru is not easily located. At this point the story becomes addictive and must be read in one sitting until the end. Definitely a good read!
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