Park Slope mom, wife, wine drinker, and author Amy Sohn recently published her fourth novel (not counting her Sex And The City companion guide), Motherland—the story of modern parenting, deception, and whatever else happens behind the closed doors of those Brooklyn brownstones. Noted Park Slope expert Jake Dobkin conducted this interview for us:

Jake Dobkin: I read your Awl piece. My first reaction was that some of the stuff you described, like doing "body shots", partying with your mommy friends till 3 a.m., and blowing guys you aren't married to, didn't really happen, or only happened once- like you're making it up just to troll internet commenters, or you imagined it, like in Fight Club, where the other mommys in your "Hookers, Sluts, and Drug Addicts" club are really just in your head and you're actually sitting at home alone with one glass of wine most nights. That's true, right?

Amy Sohn: [No Response]



Dobkin: My second reaction was that having three gin and tonics on Smith Street isn't exactly wild rebellion or even "behaving like a bunch of twentysomething hipsters". Is it possible that you're just pretty normal 40-somethings and that's terrifying, so you're enlarging your exploits to make them seem sleazier and wilder than they are?

Sohn: [No Response]

Dobkin: My third reaction was that I'd like to know which of these following behaviors you describe you're regularly engaging in and why: "But we’re masturbating excessively, cheating on good people, doing coke in newly price-inflated townhouses, and sexting compulsively—though rarely with our partners." How much masturbation is "excessive"? Do people really still do coke, in Brooklyn? Give me an example of a "sext" that you've recently sent or received.

Sohn: [No Response]

Dobkin:My fourth reaction, is that the issues you and your friends have, of Park Slope "boredom" which "turns to terror" when your kids hit PS321, seems like a parody of White People Problems. Like if your biggest challenges are too much time on your hands and real estate envy, maybe volunteer or get another job or something? People are dying in Syria! Is this a legitimate reaction?

Sohn: [No Response]

Dobkin: Can I suggest that maybe you're just hanging out with the wrong group of people? I mean, if everyone around you is throwing back Xanax and raw-dogging it just to FEEL SOMETHING and then having unplanned kids because they're too stupid to use birth control, is it possible it's not Park Slope's fault, and rather, it might be hanging around with really immature people?

Sohn: [No Response]

Dobkin: Your last book, Prospect Park West, sold well, and your new one, Motherland, seems poised for similar success. To the extent that these books convince anyone that people are actually living like this in Park Slope, and actually encouraging them to do likewise, do you think its wrong to profit by promoting this kind of lifestyle, given the inevitable costs in divorces and therapy and Weight Watchers programs these people are going to have to go to later on?

Sohn: [No Response]

Dobkin: As you know, I was raised by radical Stalinists in Park Slope in the 1980s. What really galls me is how the values that I was raised with, which were all about community, sacrificing for others, and avoiding consumption, have given way to the world described in your book- militant materialism, especially around real estate, and the celebration of toxic values like celebrity and fame- here I'm thinking of your obsession with Maggie Gyllenhaal and her husband. Is it true that if you give a liberal a piece of property and twenty years, they always turn conservative? Why has Park Slope turned its back on the leftist values of the past?

Sohn: [No Response]

Dobkin: You and your friends came of age in a relatively peaceful, prosperous time, before the wars. During a time when a writer could still buy an apartment in Park Slope's PS321 district, and writing gigs were plentiful. Are you sympathetic to younger people, facing a much more dire climate, when they accuse you of being ungrateful for your good fortune?

Sohn: [No Response]

Dobkin: What does the future hold for Amy Sohn? Are you really going to stay in Park Slope forever? My main concern is that if you do, there's a risk that you might eventually become one of those older Park Slope Food Co-op moms who you've caricatured over the years, and one day, seeing your reflection in the glass of one of the 7th Avenue storefronts, you might have this terrible moment of realizing there's just no escape from death or getting a little fatter as you age. How will you avoid this?

Sohn: [No Response]



Backstory: Amy Sohn got in touch with us about her new book. She pitched a few ideas and the Gothamist editorial team pitched a few back to her, but neither side could agree on a topic for a post. As a compromise, Amy suggested another interview, similar to the one we did with her when Prospect Park West came out. I agreed, but on the condition it would be "really hard-hitting and possibly cruel." I felt strongly about the way Park Slope was portrayed in her books and her Awl piece, and felt anything less than hard-hitting questions would be puffery. When she got the questions, Amy decided to pass on the interview, responding in part "I can't answer these questions. Even for a writer who bares a lot and writes about her personal life, they're too invasive and too hostile. And I'm not sure that all of them are really questions."