The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

A Novel

By: Aimee Bender

Narrated by: Aimee Bender

Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

The wondrous Aimee Bender conjures the lush and moving story of a girl whose magical gift is really a devastating curse.

On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein, a girl at the periphery of schoolyard games and her distracted parents’ attention, bites into her mother’s homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the cake. She discovers this gift to her horror, for her mother—her cheerful, good-with-crafts, can-do mother—tastes of despair and desperation. Suddenly, and for the rest of her life, food becomes a peril and a threat to Rose.

The curse her gift has bestowed is the secret knowledge all families keep hidden—her mother’s life outside the home, her father’s detachment, her brother’s clash with the world. Yet as Rose grows up she learns to harness her gift and becomes aware that there are secrets even her taste buds cannot discern.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is a luminous tale about the enormous difficulty of loving someone fully when you know too much about them. It is heartbreaking and funny, wise and sad, and confirms Aimee Bender’s place as “a writer who makes you grateful for the very existence of language” (San Francisco Chronicle).

©2010 Aimee Bender (P)2010 Random House

Critic reviews

"Odd and oddly beautiful....moving"--The Washington Post

"Haunting....Bender's prose delivers electric shocks....rendering the world in fresh, unexpected jolts. Moving, fanciful and gorgeously strange."--People Magazine

"Charming and wistful....[Bender] harness[es] her exquisite, bizarre sensitivity, in this haunting examination."-- The Atlantic

One of the worst books and narrators I’ve ever suffered through

Poor writing, poor story, horrible narration BY THE AUTHOR.
Every dialogue ends with “she said” or “he said” even when the character is asking a question and when we know who’s speaking.
An absolute waste of time.

The Surpisingly Bad Experiance of Lemon Cake

This was a case of "Don't judge a book by it's cover." Which, I did. And it tricked me into buying it despite seeing a few negative reviews! The authors reading style leaves a lot to be desired, the characters are frustrating, you feel bad for the main character throughout the entire novel, the ending will have you raging, and overall the idea of this book is a lot better in your head. Don't be fooled by the cake like I was.

Stop authors from reading!

This book MAY be tolerable, but the author's reading of it is NOT. In fact, I don't know if I disliked the story or just her voice. Don't choose this; I listen to various types of books, and I couldn't listen to this.

Wish I'd read all the reviews

What disappointed you about The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake?

I could not get through this one. I tried very hard because it's my book group's book but just couldn't finish it. If I had to hear she said, he said, I said one more time I would have thrown the CDs out the window. There wasn't anything interesting in this book. I've belonged to Audible for years and have never downloaded a book I couldn't finish until this one! I'm almost inclined to ask Audio for my credit back!

A fascinating, unique read!

Wow! What an incredible story! Difficult to find the words to describe this. Amy Bender has quite the imagination. I would say this should be made into a movie but her descriptive words are so perfectly crafted that I'm afraid unless the entire movie was narrated... It would lose the creative, detailed appeal. I'll admit it was difficult to get used to her somewhat monotone voice in the beginning... But then it so fits the character that you end up loving her voice in this audible version. I want to buy the book so I have it forever!

gives cake a bad name

Oooooh cake! You might say, and pick this book up on a lark. I implore you to put it back down, quickly. Or if you haven't pressed the download button yet, stop. I was first put off by the overly precious title. The overwhelming number of previous reviews have already pointed out the almost unlistenable tone and pacing of the author's narration. On top of that, however, I found it absurd that even while reading her own writing I noticed that she put the emphasis on the wrong words, or paused at strange moments, as if she were reading an unfamiliar piece for the first time. It was completely distracting. Add to this the constant drone of "he said, she said", and the tempo and pace of the dialogue is lost in all the clumsy words. Don't even get me started on the ridiculous premise of the book, and the inscrutable nature of Joseph's "gift", which I never was quite able to figure out. I have never been quite so upset about wasting a credit as I am with this book.

Note to author: Don't read your own books!

I can't review the whole book because I couldn't finish it. Why don't people do voice checks before they read their own works? It may be a really good book but the decision the author had to read it, probably ruined her chances of this being a literary success.

A thinly stretched story broken by the reader

I pride myself that I finish every book I purchase from Audible but this one came the closest yet to being abandoned part way through. The central idea for the story is facinating but the author seems utterly unable to deal effectively with it. Couple this with a narrator whose reading and voice verge on the irritating and the result fails to merit even a single star.

The Particular Sadness of Having Bought this Book!

The concept was so intriguing, I just went ahead and bought this. Big Mistake. It is tortuous. The author's voice is so irritating and the story so plodding with the "she said, he said, she said" storytelling style. The only thing interesting about this is that it has become a bestseller despite these enormous flaws. Maybe it reads better than it sounds. I wanted to like it, I really did, but a concept does not necessarily make a good book.

Bad

Possibly the worst narrator ever, just awful! Do not waste your credits/money on this, you will sincerely regret it