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Book Review of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
wantonvolunteer avatar reviewed on + 84 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6


The cheery pastel cake illustration and the People magazine blurb, "Moving, fanciful, and gorgeously strange" on the cover had me worried this would be smarmy pap or Young Adult Fiction; but I was gladdened to find the story had elements dark and ominous. The presentation light and airy, but upon consumption there is a hint of David Foster Wallace and an aftertaste of Chuck Palahniuk.

Young Rose Edelstein lives in LA with with her tall lawyer father, beautiful hyperactive mom, and scientifically gifted older brother with anti-social tendencies. At the age of nine, Rose discovers she can taste feelings in food - the emotions of the baker and farmer and anyone else involved in the assembly of whatever she eats. Overwhelmed, she seeks out machine-processed junk food. Aimee Bender is wildly inventive, I ate this book up, couldn't wait to see what happened next. Can't say much more about the plot without spoiling.