2024~2. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

Aimee Bender. 2010.

This is an odd book about a really quirky little family trying to navigate a world they don't fit into.  Their loneliness and isolation, even from each other, is palpable, and even as they live together they fail to share their experiences, which could have at least connected them to each other.  The fact that they sometimes succeed in turning towards each other, but aren't able to sustain it in a meaningful way makes this a painful read.  

I didn't love the style of writing.  Written in the first person, the narrator's voice stayed in a young, simplistic style long past when the character grew up.  When the character was young, the voice seemed too old and when she grew up, it seemed to young.  A definite downside of the book, as I found it distracting from the narrative.  I also found some of the fantasy to be hard to follow and backed up and re-read some parts to make sure I understood what happened.  Spoiler alert, the super weird things that you thought you understood you read as having happened are probably what happened.  It wasn't you not paying attention or misunderstanding.  Yes, it will get stranger as it unfolds, some parts coming together to make sense and other parts just getting stranger.

The premise of the story, though, and its quirky characters have a gentle pull to them, leaving me unable to not recommend it.  Thus, it is in the unusual category of Not Not Recommended.

​Click here to purchase this book and support My 50 Bookish Friends blog project.

---