4. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

First, let me say how much I really want to make a chocolate lemon cake now. In general, this entire book left me with a strong desire to make an elaborate meal, and pour my love (of food) into it.

The premise of the book is that on her 9th birthday the main character, Rose Edelstein, has a piece of the lemon cake her mother makes her, and can taste all her mother's emotions. But it's more than that--the little girl is completely rocked and horrified by her mother's sadness, a hollowness she has never felt before.

The book doesn't live up to its promise, I think, or, at least, it did not at all go in the direction I was expecting. After the last two very depressing books I read, I wanted something light and romantic, and this book was neither of those things. But that's not really why I wasn't crazy about it. The plot was kind of lacking--it was more about the falling apart of a family, with strange bits of magical realism that seemed to lack purpose.

At the end of the day, it was a book about coping mechanisms, about the way we suppress things, or try to suppress them, and the simple (and not so simple) actions we try to take to make life survivable. It was enjoyable, and a fast read, but I wish it has been longer. The characters lacked a certain amount of depth that a "sad" book sometimes needs (this may have happened because half the book took place before Rose turned 13). Bender hints at a lot of interesting things, but many of the most interesting threads never get picked up and turned into the wondrous thing they could be.

This book made me think about what the food I cook would say if it could talk (it's a big moment for Rose, the first time she eats food made by herself alone: a scary confrontation with her own emotions). Most of the time, I'm cooking not just for myself, but for others, and my food would probably say something like "I really really really want you to like this (and by proxy, me) and say what a good cook I am." My food would be just as needy as I am. Though that's the other thing--in the universe of the novel, most times your food contains the emotions that you don't recognize immediately in yourself, that you're very busy suppressing.

Then again, I'm honestly not one to suppress my emotions. I'm the type who'll tell any of my friends all my emotions about everything (and they usually don't mind hearing it...I hope). I'd be surprised if the lemon cake that I'll be making very soon was full of emotions I didn't know I had.

Next up: While I'm still searching for something light, cheesy, and romantic (like, a well-written Nicholas Sparks novel?), I think Drown by the wonderful Junot Diaz will be next.

Comment with all your book suggestions! I like those! :)