Side Effects: A New Orleans Love Story

by Patty Friedmann

Overview

New Orleans's idiosyncrasies have been embraced by the world; Patty Friedmann gives us a tender, hilarious portrait of them in her new novel Side Effects. Set in N.O. Drugstore where hardscrabble black Pigeontown meets stuffy white Tulane, Side Effects is peopled with the true New Orleans oddballs who scuffle between the Seasonal Specials and Depends aisles — all in full view of the pharmacy staff. Proudly plump blonde Luciana Jambon, dreadlocked and neatly compulsive Lennon Israel, and up-from-the-'hood Vendetta Greene have their own dramas of romance and friendship.
A wacky and suspenseful story of family conflict and a death under suspicious circumstances, Side Effects serves most as a comical reminder that New Orleans loves nothing more than to laugh at itself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781593761417
Publisher:	Counterpoint Press
Publication date:	02/28/2007
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.00(d)

Editorial Reviews

Friedman's charming story (after Secondhand Smoke) of the unlikely affection among three diverse co-workers at a New Orleans pharmacy also now reads as a tribute to a unique American city that will never be the same. N.O. Drugstore employees Luciana Jambon, Lennon Israel and Vendetta Greene enjoy a friendship that binds and buoys them as they deal with pandemonium at work and overbearing families at home. Beautiful, plump pharmacy manager Luciana (aka Ciana) doesn't get the same respect from her family-her older brother and sister-in-law-that she does from her colleagues. Lennon, who is just shy of his pharmacy doctorate, is smitten with Ciana despite her age (his senior), race (white) and weight (200 pounds). Vendetta Greene, a pharmacy assistant, single mom and Ciana's best friend, is constantly barraged at home by her two freeloading sisters. When a tragedy leaves Ciana reeling, Lennon and Vendetta are there for her. Lennon's love for Ciana deepens as he supports her in her time of need and works to unravel the mystery of her mother's death. Awkwardly written but with Southern flare, Friedmann's tale depicts three idiosyncratic characters who discover that together they can face and overcome adversity. (Jan.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Readers interested in a slice of the "real" New Orleans, pre-Katrina, should read Friedmann's latest homage (after Secondhand Smoke) to the inhabitants of her favorite city. There's no mention of Mardi Gras, jazz, or the French Quarter. Poised between hardscrabble Pigeontown and Tulane University, the N.O. Drugstore brings together three unlikely allies, coworkers on long shifts dispensing the drug Xanax to a regular crew of unfortunates. Luciana Jambon, an overweight white pharmacist, is infatuated with Lennon Israel, a younger black pharmacy student. Vendetta Greene, the pharmacy tech, knows that Lennon is equally enamored of his zaftig boss and is amused watching her best friends blunder toward romance. As the narrative shifts, we glimpse Ciana's pain as she deals with her racist and greedy brother and sister-in-law during their mother's last days; meanwhile, Lennon must confront longstanding rumors that he's gay. Vendetta's gritty vernacular rings authentic as she scratches to send her daughter to private school while sharing a duplex with freeloading siblings. Friedmann's New Orleans is not always pretty, but it is ultimately hopeful. For all fiction collections. [For an online LJ Talks To interview with Friedmann, see www.libraryjournal.com.-Ed.]-Christine Perkins, Burlington P.L., WA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Adult/High School-Friedmann continues to write about the curious mix of beauty and squalor that has distinguished the city. Her latest novel takes readers to the N.O. Drugstore at the corner of South Claiborne and South Carrollton, where in-your-face black Pigeontown residents and condescending white Tulane students collide. Here, pharmacist Ciana Jambon dispenses prescriptions for a wide-ranging population as the quiet drama of her life unfolds against the daily spectacle of her environment. Her two cohorts, Vendetta Greene and Lennon Israel, are also her closest friends and see her through bitter exchanges with her older brother and his grasping wife and her grief when her mother dies suddenly. To complicate matters, the death has an air of mystery around it: Ciana's sister-in-law had taken Mother Jambon to New York for a weekend visit and is less than forthcoming about all that occurred there. The story is by turns humorous and heartbreaking, and the author is adept at capturing that quirky combination of love and resentment that characterizes so many families. Friedmann's themes of sibling rivalry and unlikely friendships will linger with readers.-Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Library System, VA Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal