By J. Adrian Betancourt, Host, The Miami Book Hub
Every now and then, a guest joins me on The Miami Book Hub podcast and reminds me that the most specific stories are often the most universal.
That was certainly true of my recent conversation with Lisa F. Rosenberg, author of the delightfully titled novel Fine, I’m a Terrible Person. The title—best delivered, Lisa explained, with “a little bit of petulance”—comes from a phrase her mother repeated throughout her childhood. The book itself is a tender, funny mother-daughter story set between Northern and Southern California.
Although the novel is fiction, Lisa acknowledged that it contains “nuggets and kernels of truth,” inspired by people she has known, loved and occasionally been infuriated by. At its center is the complicated terrain of family: mothers and daughters, marriages, in-laws, children and what Lisa called “the sandwich years” of a woman’s life.
The story is also deeply rooted in Lisa’s Sephardic Jewish heritage and the Rhodesli community descended from Jews of the Greek island of Rhodes. Her family spoke Ladino, a language derived from the Castilian Spanish carried across the diaspora after the expulsion of Jews from Spain. The novel preserves not only that language, but also the food, humor, resilience and contradictions of a community nearly erased by the Holocaust.
“There was lots of sadness and trauma, but also lots of humor,” Lisa told me. “That’s right where I live—that essence of sad, funny.”
That mixture gives the novel much of its emotional power. Food plays an especially important role, carrying memory and identity from one generation to the next. Lisa recalled relatives who would begin baking the moment someone entered the house, working without recipes or measurements, guided entirely by memory.
As a Cuban American, I found that deeply relatable. “There’s something about food that’s very powerful,” I told her. “More than just about anything else, it ties you to culture and ties you to tradition.”
Lisa’s path to becoming a novelist was just as compelling. After a career in galleries and museums—including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Contemporary Jewish Museum—she encountered a family story so funny, terrible and irresistible that she urged her playwright son to write it. He declined and finally told her, “Why don’t you write it, Mom?” So she did.
At 60, Lisa enrolled in an MFA program at Dominican University, learned the craft of fiction, endured the vulnerability of critique circles and developed the manuscript over roughly three years. Her experience offers a powerful reminder that there is no expiration date on creativity.
“If you’ve got a story, go for it,” she said. “There’s really room for everybody.”
Her literary journey ultimately led her to Sibylline Press, an independent Northern California publisher focused on women over 50. Her discovery of the press came through a bookstore event she happened to see on Instagram—proof, she noted, of the importance of showing up, attending readings and remaining open to unexpected opportunities—a common refrain among the many authors I’ve interviewed.
Lisa also spoke warmly about her new home in Miami and the welcome she has received from Books & Books, the Miami Book Fair and our broader literary community. She described Miami’s literary scene as vibrant, robust and refreshingly free of gatekeeping. That is precisely the spirit The Miami Book Hub seeks to celebrate.
Learn more about Lisa F. Rosenberg, her novel, her heritage—and even family recipes—at LisaFRosenberg.com.
You can find this and other episodes of The Miami Book Hub on YouTube and Spotify via my website: www.ThreeTreasuresPress.com. Please like, subscribe and share with your friends and family, and, as always, keep reading, keep writing and stay curious, Miami!
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