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beillumined's review
5.0
"...I laugh just like my mother, is what she usually said, in horror. Oh God, she said, I'm so terrified I'm going to be exactly like my mother.
I nodded when she said it, but I never really understood her. I didn't understand the big deal. Everyone said what she said, but it was the opposite that broke my heart."
I think I could love this book by that moment alone, because it truly captures how I have felt about my mom since she passed. But that is not what this story is about, nor is it why I love this book.
For the true-at-heart English major literature lover / downright bad at math hater, this book was a seamless blend of beautiful writing and word with a captivating story about the one thing that kept a young woman going: math. Hard as that concept was for ne to grasp, getting to know Mona and learning just what she was grappling with, you began to understand why the numbers kept her grounded.
While I didn't totally love Aimee Bender's short story collection, "The Girl in the Flammable Skirt," I was a big fan of "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake." I think Aimee has a fabulous way of telling lovely stories with unique twists.
I can't wait to share this book, but it wasn't my literary friends I had in mind. I think my math teacher friends would really enjoy this lovely read about Mona's passion for math, and the way she fostered it in her own students.
*p.s. I just watched the movie, "An Invisible Sign", and I want to add that you should a) not judge the book by the movie, and b)... not watch the movie after you've read the book. it's pretty terrible.
I nodded when she said it, but I never really understood her. I didn't understand the big deal. Everyone said what she said, but it was the opposite that broke my heart."
I think I could love this book by that moment alone, because it truly captures how I have felt about my mom since she passed. But that is not what this story is about, nor is it why I love this book.
For the true-at-heart English major literature lover / downright bad at math hater, this book was a seamless blend of beautiful writing and word with a captivating story about the one thing that kept a young woman going: math. Hard as that concept was for ne to grasp, getting to know Mona and learning just what she was grappling with, you began to understand why the numbers kept her grounded.
While I didn't totally love Aimee Bender's short story collection, "The Girl in the Flammable Skirt," I was a big fan of "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake." I think Aimee has a fabulous way of telling lovely stories with unique twists.
I can't wait to share this book, but it wasn't my literary friends I had in mind. I think my math teacher friends would really enjoy this lovely read about Mona's passion for math, and the way she fostered it in her own students.
*p.s. I just watched the movie, "An Invisible Sign", and I want to add that you should a) not judge the book by the movie, and b)... not watch the movie after you've read the book. it's pretty terrible.
laila4343's review
2.0
Too precious and quirky for me to connect. Seems like a short story that got out of control.
taranicolewilson's review
let's just say I knew it was a bad idea to keep an axe in a classroom.
alisonjfields's review
3.0
Aimee Bender is a fine writer--at times even wonderfully so. But this book has a bit too much artful whimsy for my taste. It's a little like reading the interior of an Anthropologie store.
averyauthorship's review
5.0
(I don't write many reviews, but this touched me so deeply, I had to.) I went into this book tentatively. The movie adaptation is one of my favorite films of all time, and I was worried that the original novel wouldn't stand up to my expectations. How wrong I was. It is an incredibly different story than I expected (avant-garde and strange), but moving nonetheless.
This story is one filled with bizarrely beautiful language. The reader is stuck in Mona Gray's head the whole time, and her mind is as beautiful as it is terrifying. As someone who is living day to day with OCD, and who lived much of her life undiagnosed, Mona's struggles with anxiety and seemingly ridiculous magical thinking is something I can relate with on a deeply personal level. Her habits are never poked fun of, but rather Bender treats Mona with the utmost respect. She isn't "crazy," she isn't "making it up." She is sick, and she doesn't know how to get better. In fact, she doesn't even realize that she is sick at all.
I am convinced now that many of the people who wrote negative reviews for this book either didn't read it, or didn't read it critically. One criticism that I have seen is that Mona gets better because she meets a man. This could not be more incorrect and boring of a reading. I won't go into details to avoid spoilers, but her relationship with Benjamin Smith is so much deeper than shallow "love made me not sick anymore." Boiling their relationship down to that is a disservice to Bender and her beautiful work.
This book gave me hope that there can be a time where I break free of my own, personal bar of soap (if you know you know). I love this book. I love this author. I love Mona Gray.
This story is one filled with bizarrely beautiful language. The reader is stuck in Mona Gray's head the whole time, and her mind is as beautiful as it is terrifying. As someone who is living day to day with OCD, and who lived much of her life undiagnosed, Mona's struggles with anxiety and seemingly ridiculous magical thinking is something I can relate with on a deeply personal level. Her habits are never poked fun of, but rather Bender treats Mona with the utmost respect. She isn't "crazy," she isn't "making it up." She is sick, and she doesn't know how to get better. In fact, she doesn't even realize that she is sick at all.
I am convinced now that many of the people who wrote negative reviews for this book either didn't read it, or didn't read it critically. One criticism that I have seen is that Mona gets better because she meets a man. This could not be more incorrect and boring of a reading. I won't go into details to avoid spoilers, but her relationship with Benjamin Smith is so much deeper than shallow "love made me not sick anymore." Boiling their relationship down to that is a disservice to Bender and her beautiful work.
This book gave me hope that there can be a time where I break free of my own, personal bar of soap (if you know you know). I love this book. I love this author. I love Mona Gray.
arieldemaio's review
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I read this at the perfect time for it to embed in me. Love it. So strange.
thisisleila's review
3.0
Definitely a first book, Aimee Bender was still figuring how to write a novel. But there are some vivid and imaginative scenes, and it was an enjoyable read.
meghan111's review against another edition
3.0
How does she write stuff that is so emotionally true, yet so slightly weird in detail?