The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Hmmmm. Hmmmm. I'm sitting here staring at the monitor thinking what did I like, what didn't I like?

At nine years old Rose Edelstein discovers that she can taste people's feelings from the they food they make. She realized what a curse this is but realizes she's simply going to have to adjust her life around either avoiding eating her mother's sorrow and guilt ridden meals or eating pre-packaged factory food. As Rose grows up she realizes that she isn't the only one with a strange ability.

#1 dislike, no quotation marks. None. Anytime someone spoke you had to re-read it or guess if someone was actually speaking, thinking or it was narration. I got used it relatively quickly but it sure was odd!

#2 dislike, it was deep, I guess, but I'm not always into deepness and sorrow and this book didn't change my feelings on that.

#1 like, original, kind of. It was a kind of like a depressing version of Sarah Addison Allen's awesome books about foods and feelings. But it went deeper and in to other family members trials and tribulations.

#2 like, it was a kind of poetic and weird (and that's cool)! The middle portion of the book was the best, the beginning was a little hard to catch on to and the ending was a little flat, it went too fast.

I'd call this more a 2.5 star, closer to a 3 than a 2 though. I didn't hate it.

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Bloodroot

Bloodroot by Amy Greene

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I can only think to classify this as a story-tellin' fictional read. There isn't a whole lot of dialogue but there is a whole lot of storytelling from six different perspectives. You can't call it a novel, you can't call it fantasy, certainly not chick-lit or magical. It's downright good story tellin'!

It's a telling of people involved in the life of Myra Mayes-Odum. A wild and spirited mountain girl of the Appalachia region. We read about Myra from the perspective of a child hood friend who loves her with all his heart but the feelings are not mutual. We hear from Myra's granny who raises Myra and knows her wild spirit cannot be tamed much like Myra's mama who met her maker very early on in Myra's life. We skip around in time and hear the story from Myra's twin's and the hardship they endure when they are taken from their mama. We hear from Myra herself and what she went through and perhaps some closure on why she ended up where she did. And finally we hear from John Odum, Myra's husband who paid his dues with a violent incident that set a path for change in all their lives.

I didn't really think the publishers book description was all that fitting to what the story actually was about. My own perception though. The jacket claims this book is about the magic "touch" that is in Myra's family. There really isn't much "magic" in this book. This book at times is depressing, moody and haunting. With that said, I couldn't put it down. Some things that bugged me were that the paragraphs were insanely long, often one of two paragraphs per page. There aren't chapters, there are books with all the different first person stories. It was hard to find a place to take a break for the night. Also, the "Appalachia" language was strange at first. I sure felt dumb-downed a bit! LOL

With the negatives I pointed out, I have to say the author is a fantastic teller of stories. I will be anxious to see what she may write for her next book. She certainly is unique.

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