Scan barcode
A review by daffodilcherry
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
The only person I could see enjoying this book is someone who wants to read a bland story about very tame drama of a nuclear, middle class American, suburbian family, with a very small hint of magical realism. My negative review follows:
The concept of this book was interesting, a girl suddenly develops the ability to taste emotions in food pertaining to the person who made the food. I've never seen absolutely nothing done with an interesting concept. The main character, Rose, is so annoying and passive. She is uncurious, boring and uninspiring as a protagonist. Instead of using the emotion tasting as a way to start any action, to show how children can misunderstand nuances of adult situations, Rose just... Eats processed foods. Don't get me wrong, the one star is because I enjoyed the food descriptions, but the nothingness of the concept was very boring.
It's then revealed that Joseph also has a gift. I think it is that he can transform into furniture, idk it's never properly explained. I don't know that the metaphor or reason for it was. He was also autistic coded but they never used the "a" word or anything.
I did not care about how the dad never entered a hospital. I did not care about any of the flashbacks or family stories because if you heard about it once you heard about it five times. Like the processed food Rose liked, everything that happened to the family was bland and painfully suburbian without any sense of place or time. By half way through the book I had increased the speed to an insane 2.5 times just to get through it. The author/narrator didn't bring much to the table.
The concept of this book was interesting, a girl suddenly develops the ability to taste emotions in food pertaining to the person who made the food. I've never seen absolutely nothing done with an interesting concept. The main character, Rose, is so annoying and passive. She is uncurious, boring and uninspiring as a protagonist. Instead of using the emotion tasting as a way to start any action, to show how children can misunderstand nuances of adult situations, Rose just... Eats processed foods. Don't get me wrong, the one star is because I enjoyed the food descriptions, but the nothingness of the concept was very boring.
It's then revealed that Joseph also has a gift. I think it is that he
I did not care about how the dad never entered a hospital. I did not care about any of the flashbacks or family stories because if you heard about it once you heard about it five times. Like the processed food Rose liked, everything that happened to the family was bland and painfully suburbian without any sense of place or time. By half way through the book I had increased the speed to an insane 2.5 times just to get through it. The author/narrator didn't bring much to the table.