The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Feb 25, 2011 Jeff Scott rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction, magical-realism

The problem I had with this book was one of expectations. Rose Edelstein discovers on her ninth birthday, that she can taste emotions in food. She would know what the cook was thinking and feeling when the food was prepared, even where the food was grown and processed. The premise of the book immediately reminds me of Like Water for Chocolate. There is that immediate element of magical-realism that I love in Latin American Fiction (Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabelle Allende both come immediately t The problem I had with this book was one of expectations. Rose Edelstein discovers on her ninth birthday, that she can taste emotions in food. She would know what the cook was thinking and feeling when the food was prepared, even where the food was grown and processed. The premise of the book immediately reminds me of Like Water for Chocolate. There is that immediate element of magical-realism that I love in Latin American Fiction (Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabelle Allende both come immediately to mind). However, Bender seems to be the only author that can take a concept that can tell such a great story and make it very pedestrian.

I think the most annoying aspect of this book is the lack of emotions and empathy from the characters. It would seem that someone who has the power to taste the emotions of the cook, that she would be very sympathetic to everyone. In fact, I would read this ability as a metaphor for growing up. There is that understanding as a child growing up that the world does not revolve around you and that your parents have their own separate lives and their own identities. This power doesn’t develop that feeling for Rose; in fact it stunts this development. Yet nothing is done with this concept. There is a line in the book that I feel aptly reflects the potential in the book that goes nowhere:

"Ugh, you Edelsteins, he said. Come on, It shouldn’t be some kind of secret, what you do. I know Joe was working on something, working hard, he showed me a few pages once, years ago, some of the graphs he was making. It was incredible work. Really. Unbelievable. Now, where does any of that go?" P. 258

It seems that all the characters have no emotions. The father just works, comes home, works, and watches medical dramas. The mother has a quiet desperation that is very, very quiet. Joseph has even less emotions than these two. It almost seems that he is the ideal character for this book of emotional coldness. Rose is most annoyed that she has to feel anyone else’s emotions since she doesn’t like her own. The author is some sort of Wizard of Oz giving her Tin Man character a heart and she rejects it.

The concept is introduced and then the story just drags with some muddled attempts to get the father to notice that the mother is unhappy with an ending that didn’t really bring the story to a conclusion.
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Jun 14, 2010 Miquela rated it it was ok

Shelves: audible

The mystery of this book gets boring and is sad until the very end. By then I just wanted it to be over. It is an interesting premise but fell short of my expectations. It did remind me to reread Like Water for Chocolate because it took a similar idea and made it luscious.

June 2010:
Sounds fun -
The wondrous Aimee Bender conjures the lush and moving story of a girl whose magical gift is really a devastating curse.

On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the peripher ...more

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Jan 21, 2015 Gayle rated it did not like it

OK, it's been a long time since I've read a book and walked away thinking, "WTH?" I'm usually pretty good at finding some symbolism or meaning in things/actions/thoughts/etc. But...........I can't figure this one out. I'm hoping once I read some reviews on this, that it will shed some light on whatever it is I'm missing. Not to mention, I was completely and totally annoyed at the lack of quotation marks for all the conversations!!! Again, perhaps I'm simply missing the meaning of this. ...more

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Dec 07, 2010 Lisa rated it liked it

I should probably give this two stars but since I mostly enjoyed the process of reading it I suppose I'll give it three. I wanted to take away a star just for the way it ended. I don't feel like there was any kind of payoff. It's as though I wasted my time completely. I didn't enjoy it enough to make it worth the time it took to read it, even though it didn't take long. I can't really put my finger on why I was annoyed at the end, but I was. Very. ...more

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Feb 21, 2019 Melanie rated it liked it

Shelves: family, food-novel, weird, magical-realism

So first - mild spoilers ahead. Second - I am torn on this one. At first, I loved it - what a cool concept! How crazy would it be to taste feelings and learn people’s secrets this way?! - and I could slide into the slightly magical way this worked. But then we got to the weird part with her brother. I like weird, but this? I was pulled violently out of the story and all the charm kind of disappeared for me. It was too weird, too far-fetched, and too sudden. I didn’t feel like the book was leadin ...more

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Jul 25, 2010 Melissa Wiebe rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, 2010, books-on-the-nightstand

Very interesting book. It seemed that reading the book in short spurts was just enough for me to enjoy it. It was a very pleasant read and it was just heavy enough to not be so fluffy that I would have rolled my eyes.

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Apr 24, 2011 Adrienne rated it really liked it

A lovely read.

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Jul 31, 2010 Cindy rated it liked it

This book is not at all what I expected when I first picked it up. At first the lack of proper punctuation bothered me but after a few pages it didn't anymore. It gave me a feeling of the narrator, Rose, telling the story in a very non-emotional tone. The story was weird to be sure, and it ended a little... oddly, but overall I enjoyed it. ...more

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