The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (2010) by Aimee Bender. One of the most creative and original works of fiction that I've read lately. This book tells the story of Rose, a girl who at the age of 9 realizes she can taste people's feelings in the food that they prepare. It starts with a birthday cake that her mother makes for her on her ninth birthday, which Rose finds barely palatable because of the taste of "absence, hunger, spiraling, hollows.... It tastes empty," she tells her mother. Rose comes to see this gift as a curse, as she has a hard time enjoying food anymore because of the raging, confusing emotions she tastes in the school cafeteria food and in restaurant food. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Her brother, Joseph, has a habit of disappearing for hours, days, weeks at a time. Her father refuses to even go into a hospital, even for the birth of his two children. It is not until just the right time, near the end of the book, that all the strands of the plot become woven together and make perfectly good sense. At about the same time, Rose comes to terms with her gift, even learns to put it to good use. This is an altogether unusual and satisfying novel. Only the very end lacks punch, the final resolution a little out of focus. Grade: A-