ODDS

Published by Counterpoint,  2000

Language: English

Paperback / Hardcover:  249 Pages

ISBN: 1-58243-087-X, 1-58243-180-9

Dimensions: 5.25 x 0.75 x 8.25 inches

Living in New Orleans with her husband and twin sons--one born physically perfect, and one born deformed--Anna Riggs Duffy is devastated when a tragic accident claims the life of one of the twins and turns to gambling to assuage her grief, while her husband, George, turns to another woman.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patty Friedmann is the darkly humorous literary novelist of a dozen works set in New Orleans.

EDITORIAL REVIEWS

From Booklist

Anna Duffy seems clueless as to just how bad things have gotten in her life until she is forced by tragedy and its aftermath to sit up and take notice. Barely out of high school, she married George, a cold and condescending New Orleans lawyer. Their twin sons, born soon thereafter, appear to provide one child for each parent to love. George Junior is a bully like his father and physically normal. Gregor was born without arms and legs but with amazing wisdom and a heart of gold. In a dramatic and fateful moment, Anna is forced to choose between saving the life of only one of her boys, then age six. Anna and George's responses to the loss drive the couple further apart. George turns to another woman while Anna seeks relief in losing herself (as well as her savings) at the casino slot machines. These are dark subjects, certainly, but Friedmann's caustic style is hilariously funny. Best is the priceless and unforgettable characterization of Gregor. Grace Fill (Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved)

"Expertly, gracefully, Patty Friedmann overlays topographies of loss and desire, reality and delusion, making fiction as strange-and as sad and funny-as truth." -- Kathryn Harrison, author of The Kiss

"In this elegant and unusual novel, [the odds] are very good indeed." -- Deborah Sussman Susser, The New York Times Book Review, Dec 31, 2000