BOOK REVIEW: "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake" by Aimee Bender

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For me, this was the summer of books! After reading my third book by Jeffrey Eugenides, I read a very high-paced thriller about amnesia when I was in New York (“Before I Go To Sleep”) and my last Stieg Larsson book from his trilogy. However, Aimee Bender’s international bestseller (with one of the most intriguing names I’ve ever heard for a novel) was special.

I bought my “lemon cake” in Chicago and finished reading it during sight-seeing in a record-breaking 4 hours. The plot had something that didn’t let you leave the happenings emotionally. The events in this strange, rather short book are extremely thought-provoking. Bender tells the story of a girl from California who tastes the feelings of the person making the dish she’s eating. The farther on in the plot, the stranger the incidents get and the more the girl’s special power starts to get a meaning.

In general, it’s a coming-of-age story with a specialty to it that is not 100% realistic or credible, but that is not Bender’s purpose. Everything that happens in “The Particular Sadness…” can be interpreted into something happening in our subconscious and standing for something real. Thus, the novel is not obtrusive but brings across its message very subtly.

Unfortunately, the message is so complex to such an extent that I spent more time on forums on the internet taking in other people’s thoughts than reading the book itself!! Something different, for sure! Take a few hours and try this one. Bender’s writing style may not be spectacular, but the images she conveys are quite vivid and not seen-before. 

Trivia: Bender is bffs with American writer Alice Sebold from “The Lovely Bones”-fame. In fact, thinking about it, I don’t know two books more alike than those two!