Book Review: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
Publisher: Windmill books (an imprint of Random House UK)
Release Date: 3rd February 2011 (Paperback)
Rating: 3/5
Source: Received from publisher to review
Amazon Summary:
On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein bites into her mother’s homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the slice. To her horror, she finds that her cheerful mother tastes of despair. Soon, she’s privy to the secret knowledge that most families keep hidden: her father’s detachment, her mother’s transgression, her brother’s increasing retreat from the world. But there are some family secrets that even her cursed taste buds can’t discern.
When Danielle featured The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake during one of our American Weekends, I fell in love with the cover and the synopsis. I figured it was only going to be a US release, so I was delighted to see it on Amazon UK to be released in February this year. I was even happier to snag myself a proof copy, although it managed to slip down my reading pile a little bit, but I finally found some space to slip it in and it was an interesting read, to say the least.
I liked the idea of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. The idea that a girl can taste people’s feelings by what they cook is a brilliant idea. For the most part, it was well-executed and although I thought Rose was perhaps a more mature 9-year-old than I expected, I liked how she navigated her new gift (or curse, depending on how you feel about it, I suppose). I enjoyed that Rose narrated the book, she narrated how different foods tasted; the way her mum was sad and lonely and unappreciated from her distant husband. How her best friend’s food was filled with love. How her brother’s food tasted so disgusting she had to spit it out. I liked how we saw Rose progress from that 9-year-old girl into a teenager into an adult.
However, I wasn’t a big fan of the lack of background. Why was Rose able to taste people’s moods, people’s feelings? There was a definite lack of explanation there and since I’m an explanation kind of girl I was disappointed. We get a small paragraph about Rose’s father’s father, but that was unsatisfactory at best. I was also incredibly frustrated at how much time was dedicated to Rose’s brother Joe without us being given a worth explanation. After finishing the book I still have no idea what it was Joe was suffering from. What it was that Joe was afflicted with and it really annoys me because I’d really like to know.
For the most part I found myself enjoying the characters. Rose was a wonderful character to carry the book, and she carried it very well. I enjoyed seeing her grow up, how she didn’t let her gift over-run her as she got older. Her parents were ‘there’ without really being ‘there’. They were in the house, they were physically there, but I found them lacking in the parenting department, both more concerned with their own troubles and their own issues. Joe fascinated me, the way he was portrayed I figured there was some autism/asperger’s in him, but that was never confirmed and well, it felt lacking as I’ve already mentioned. It left me wondering ‘Well what happened?! What was it?’ and I just couldn’t figure it out for myself.
Surprisingly, there was a hint of a romance in the novel as Rose finds herself getting closer with George, a friend of Joe’s. I liked their friendship and I could see it going somewhere more once they were both old enough, but it all seemed to peter out and I was rather disappointed. Bender had built it up quite well, getting me invested and then it all collapsed. I wasn’t expecting it in the novel, though, so it wasn’t too bad. All in all, I enjoyed the novel. It didn’t blow me away. And I was increasingly annoyed by the lack of quotation marks (why, oh, why would an editor allow that one to fly? Answers on a postcard, please). It’s a good enough book but it lacks the punch needed. The emotion was there, but the lack of explanations and the lack of telling us about Joe let the book down sorely. I would recommend it, as fans of quirky magical books would probably enjoy it.
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July 7th, 2011 at 8:10 pm
Sounds good!
July 9th, 2011 at 11:17 pm
For the most part, I enjoyed TPSOLC. Although I wish the author would have explored more history behind her gift and even used it more to her advantage.
July 12th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
To clarify, Joe had the ability to disappear both literally and figuratively. It’s explained that he is able to escape his suffocating mother by becoming a part of his bed, a chair… in fact, we know that he has asked for his grandmother’s chairs because one has become his favorite. Rose goes so far as to scrawl on the back of it so that she knows where he is when he disappears for the final time (which, of course, is inevitable).
September 11th, 2011 at 12:34 pm
I thought this was a weird book - a lot heavier than I expected from the title. Loved the way the author explored the relationship between food and feelings - she did an excellent job of showing the world through Rose’s eyes. Wasn’t so convinced by the Joseph plotline. I got what she was aiming for, but didn’t think it really worked.