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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