Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
Chocoholic avatar reviewed on + 291 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1


I really wanted to like this book more than I did...I had heard such great reviews about this. This book is about Rose Edelstein, who discovers just before her 9th birthday that she has a special ability to taste the emotions of the people who make the food she eats, and can also tell exactly where the ingredients in her food was grown or produced. Such a refreshing idea for a novel! The book tells Rose's story in managing her newfound ability and living with it into her early adulthood. Along the way she discovers that there are other people in her family with special abilities as well, and that is where my main complaint comes in. Rose's brother, Joseph, is one of these individuals who also has a special ability and once Joseph is introduced, the whole story seems to shift and tell more about Joseph's story and less about Rose. I feel like this might have been better managed as a sequel or at least as a longer book, because while we're busy learning about Joseph, Rose's story seems to fall by the wayside. There was also at least one scene where Rose was depicted doing another special ability, but it is not explained in any way and left me with a lot of questions. I did like this book, it was easy and fun to read; I just wanted to know more about Rose as it seems like a lot of her story is glossed over. Also, the ending was somewhat flat and lacking in something. I would recommend reading this, as it is an unusual departure from your usual chick-lit books, but don't set your sights too high.