Book Review: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Hi! I'm doing book reviews now. Why? Because none of my friends read. They're all gamers first and foremost.
I don't read books a lot. There was a big gap for about 5 years, probably sometime around the end of the middle school, where I just never picked up a book. Anyway, I'm trying to change that, so I went to the library to get some recommendations. I asked for something character-driven and somewhat hopeful, and I was handed The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender.
This book centers on Rose Edelstein, a girl who has the ability to taste the feelings of the people who prepared the food that she eats. But despite that being the main hook, the point of the book isn't really about exploring power; it's about her and her family.
I liked it! It was a cozy read to get me into the habit of reading regularly. If you've ever played Night in the Woods, it has a very similar slice of life energy: Mundane setting, a comfortable balance of sweet and bittersweet moments, and a lot of time spent getting to know the characters in it merely by observing them in their day-to-day lives.
Even though I liked it, I didn't quite love it. Hometown nostalgia is lovely, but sometimes I want things to happen. I want to see how characters behave in both mundane and extraordinary circumstances. This book did have a few tastes of that, but I could have done with a little more sugar.
But hey, part of engaging with any new medium is feeling out what you like. This was a helpful data point!
Anyway, onwards into spoiler territory!
Reveal Spoilers
I wasn't kidding when I said this story focuses on the mundane. Rose's power is explored, and we even get a reveal that her brother, Joseph, and everyone on her father's side of the family has similar powers as well. Her brother has the ability to turn into objects, her grandfather had the ability to smell emotions, and her father... well, we never find out, but he has a strong feeling that he'll find out if he enters a hospital.
Aside from the powers, everyone in this story is extremely normal. That's not to say that they're boring, but that they all have unique flaws and strengths that only appear when something brings them out. The kinds of traits that you only really see when you spend a lot of time with someone. In most situations, every member of Rose's family wouldn't be particularly noteworthy.
This writing style even extends to the POV. This book commits to its first person perspective with textbook accuracy. We learn a ton about Rose, because she's the perspective. We learn a lot about her close family, but a little less. And for grandparents, friends, and strangers, all we get are little hints of who they are and what's really going on their lives.
This approach makes sense; it's a direct reflection of how everyone in the real world experiences their own stories. Strangers, friends and family drift away or pass on before you get to unravel the full story of who they were. Every time you might think you've figured someone out, they do something new that you didn't expect. I get it, but it still leaves me yearning to know more about all those other people.
A lot of people describe me as having a very scientific approach to life. I think that's fairly accurate. But sometimes it's inconvenient, because I also very much enjoy figuring people out. Why people do the things that they do. The reason that's inconvenient is, well... sometimes there's no way to know. Even if I get the chance to ask them, and even if they try their damnedest to answer earnestly, I find out that even they have no idea.
And every time, I get a little frustrated. Why? You do this all the time and you've never once wondered why? Have you ever tried to find out? Don't you want to find out why???
And sometimes they just don't. They don't want to, and they've never had to, so they never did.
At the end of the day, some people just don't particularly care about learning. Which still sort of baffles me. I'm okay with not knowing things, but I always try.
It's hard for me to imagine being a person who doesn't feel the need to at least try to understand things.