A Final Farewell: An Interview with Patty Friedmann, author of One Knife, One Fork, One Spoon

Patty Friedmann is a darkly comic New Orleans literary novelist whose dozen-plus works include the celebrated Secondhand Smoke. Essays, short stories, and reviews have appeared such places as Newsweek and Oxford American. She has had two husbands, two children, and three grandchildren, and currently lives with an annoying philodendron.

You can buy One Knife, One Fork, One Spoon here.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.

Tell us the story of your book’s title. Was it easy to find, or did it take forever?

It describes my dream life. Just check out my bio.

How did it feel when you first saw your book cover? Or when you first held your book in your hands?

I negotiated my book cover. It’s very in-your-face, but this is my final novel, so that extended middle prong says my farewell.

Who/what made you want to write? Was there a particular person, or particular writers/works/art forms that influenced you?

Good grief, I’m 77 and have been getting published half of my life. I started with a raspberry of a humor book, and the novels that have followed all have had a so-there attitude. I like to think I’m influenced by Salinger’s ambiguity but I know I’m not kidding anyone.

If your book had a soundtrack, what are some songs that would be on it?

Well, of course, this book would have “Mrs. Robinson” on its soundtrack. I wonder what played during LOLITA?

What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book? How do you envision your perfect reader?

This book is about a dalliance. But what it’s REALLY about is the collapse of a middle-class marriage with too many children and its effect on a too-sensitive child. My perfect reader would identify with the narrator.

You can buy One Knife, One Fork, One Spoon here.

Are you a writer, too? Submit your manuscript to Atmosphere Press.