Amy Sohn Does NOT, in fact, Have a Bugaboo: The FIPS Q & A

Hodgman doesn't return our tweets, and though we briefly considered that we *might* have been having an exchange with the REALSTEVEBUSCEMI, as it turned out, it was the FAKESTEVEBUSCEMI. Anyway, it ain't no thang, cause we've moved on and nailed ourselves an interview with our new fave BR-ALLER, Amy Sohn!

As you may recall, I loved the shit out of Sohn's latest novel about four Park Slope SAHM's, Prospect Park West. And so I was psyched to dive in deep and get to the bottom of things with some of our most burning questions.

So, yeah...Sohn indulged us and answered some of our Q's. We laughed, we cried, we ate fritatas.

Check it:

I thought we could start things by diving into some more serious/heady issues So...Hunan Delight or Red Hot?

I haven't been to either. We do Nana on 5th ave--I guess I'm more of a Thai takeout person [ed note: if you are reading this, Amy, I implore you to immediately order some crispy shrimp from Hunan and/or the sesame shrimp from Red Hot. You'll also need some dumplings, and *probably* some scallion pancakes to round things out. Jus sayin...].

Tasti D-Lite or Yogo Monster?

Ooh, that's tough. I'm a recent Yogo convert, but the main reason is because of the samples. My daughter and I go in just for the samples (also I love the sour).

Al di La or Frannys?

That's easy, Al di La.

Joe's Pizza or Tomato & Basil?

I have to say, I'm a Roma girl. Well, Roma and Pino, because I like the Grandma slices. But Joe's because they catered a kid's birthday party, and it was really good too.

Key Food or Union Market?

For toilet paper, basics, and things you forgot at the Coop, Key Food. For olives, gourmet sodas and things like that, definitely Union Market.

Would you live in Park Slope if you didn't have a kid?

I think if I had moved to Park Slope in my earlier 20's I probably would have stayed, because I would have felt very affectionate toward the neighborhood--you're always affectionate toward wherever you live right after college. But given the fact that I was Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens, if I hadn't fallen in love and decided with my husband that we wanted to have a kid, I probably would have stayed over there. But what I really love about the Slope, despite the weird, sometimes claustrophobic aspects of it, is that it feels freer given the greater square footage of the neighborhood. I found Carroll Gardens to be very stifiling after awhile. I'd go up and down that same strip on Smith Street, with the same bars and the same restaurants, and it just got boring. Wheras here I'm still discovering places after living here for years. Like I just went to that bar Quarter for the first time. Wheras the 5th time we ate at Grocery and had an overwhelmed waitress, eventhough there were only 2 tables taken, I was like "I wanna move."

Do you know any of the other Park Slope Celebs?

OTHER? Meaning I'm one?? [ed note: duh]. Well, John Turturo lives close by and we've said hello to each other a few times. John Hodgman is a friend. My daughter has played in the playground with Kathryn Erbe's son--they're close in age. I've seen Paul Auster, though I don't know him. I've seen Steve Buscemi, though I don't know him either. And I saw Maggie Glynnenhaal crossing 5th Ave and pushing her stroller once. She put all of us other young moms to shame, style-wise. Jennifer Connelly looked at my daughter in her stroller at Key Food and told my husband Charles "cute baby." Then someone told me she also said that about her kid, so maybe she has a thing for cute babies.

Do you own a Bugaboo?

NEVER...we're all about Maclarens. I could never get over the price point of Bugaboos and also it's just not a great urban stroller because of the wheels and the fact that its more difficult to collapse. Maclaren invented the umbrella, which allows for this one handed collapse. Also with Bugaboos, I don't love that the child has to look up at the parent rather than out at the world. I saw how much joy my daughter would get when we'd go out on walks and she could look at all the people passing by, rather than getting stuck starting at me.

Do you think of yourself as an atypical mom?

I'm definitely atypical for this neighborhood, in that my husband and I have a complete 50/50 childcare arrangement and I make more of the money.  I also feel atypical to the extent that I give my kid a wider berth than most moms. Which isn't to say that I'm not very close when she's climbing and I think that there's a chance that she might fall. But, I'll tend to catch her as she's falling, as opposed to before. I always have my eye on her because this is New York, after all, but I let myself get more than ten feet away.  I also don't feel like we have to be doing things all the time. We actually do a lot of nothing, and she has very few scheduled activities. I don't like the idea of rushing your kid from one thing to the next to the next.

I wonder if you seem like an atypical mom because the helicopter Park Slope moms just have a better PR campaign going? Are there really way more moms like you out there and we just don't know it?

I think so. You notice hovering mothers much more, because the regular moms are just sitting on a bench talking to their friends and not making a scene. But I do think the helicopter thing is exaggerated--even in Park Slope. I think there's a mix of all different types of moms. And in truth: everyone's a helicopter with with their first, and everyone's a helicopter for the first two years. But, of course, there are all different types of moms out there. Recently I was walking down 7th Avenue and I saw a 6 year old kid who was having a fit while her 3-year-old sister was being pushed in the stroller by their mom. The mother had clearly just had it, and I saw her pivot the stroller and turn around as if to go home. I imagined she was following through on some earlier threat, and I thought to myself "that's a good mom"--cause you could see that when she said something, she meant it.

Of course the things that tend to stand out are the moms who are at the park who have exchanges like this: "Monty, move out of that lady's way." "Monty, you're in the way right there and someone needs to get by." "Monty, you need to scooch out the way, please." And I'm sitting there saying to myself "just pick the fucking kid up and move him out of the way!," because you are completely inconveniencing this other person while you're sitting there having your little moment. But, of course, we tend to notice mothers like that much more. Just like you'll notice the mother more who is blocking the sidewalk, prattling away on her cell phone as people are trying to get by. But of course then there's the 80% of us who are always trying to be careful and aware of our surroundings, looking over our shoulders and trying to make sure that our stroller isn't in anyone's way. My husband and I are always moving to the side to let people pass, even when we're alone, without our daughter. Who wants someone else overhearing our entire conversation? 

Do you like that people have been comparing Prospect Park West to Sex and the City, and seeing it as an SATC 2.0? Or does that bug you?

Well, they've only really been saying that because of our option deal--and I guess also because of the four female characters. It's funny because the same thing happened to me when my first novel came out Run Catch Kiss. At the time there were a lot of comparisons to Bridget Jones's Diary. I think what I've learned from that experience is that when you're compared to something successful, you should always take it as a compliment. People like to "shorthand" things and think the SATC thing is just something that people have latched on to as a shorthand for anything that's about New York women, or self-assured women, or single women.

But the key difference that I see between PPW and SATC, is that the women in my book are not friends--it's not at all a book about friendship. I really wanted to write a neighborhood novel which was more about the intersections of our lives. Like when you pass by a couple on the corner and overhear them fighting, then maybe you see one of them a few days later and you wonder how it all worked out. We have this intimacy with strangers' lives as a facet of neighborhood living and that's, really, what I was going after.

Lucky for all your asses, Amy is doing a Prospect Park West reading right in the nabe tomorrow night at Community Bookstore at 7pm. Who's in?

I think we need a nice BALLER/FIPS contingency on hand in case any angry mamz try to bring the smackdown. Eric_Yo: you bring the brass knuckles; OHEMGEEDEE: can you get your hands on some chinese stars? I'll bring the weed.