I will just cut to the chase here: I did not enjoy Aimee Bender's The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. What began as something I perceived to be a touching story of family trials and triumphs ended in a "what the hell?" moment that resulted in my questioning the decision to finish this book. That being said, I will give the author props for a unique concept and style. The book was definitely interesting, but tedious.
What probably contributed to the tediousness factor is the fact that dialogue throughout the novel is not separated by traditional quotation marks that we as readers are accustomed to seeing in order to process conversation within a story. Also, I kept waiting for a climatic moment and what could possibly be considered that intended moment ended up being too inconceivable to appreciate. I should have known better considering that the story is based on a young girl's ability to taste the feelings of the people who cook the food she eats. I am likely too much of a realist to appreciate the potentially haunting beauty behind this story. Unfortunately for me, I didn't take this into account and now that ends up being several hours of my life I can never reclaim invested in a piece of literature I did not care for with characters I could not connect to for whatever reason.
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