The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is the story of a nine-year-old girl, Rose, who can taste the feelings of anyone who made her food. For example when she tastes her mom's baking she can taste the sadness and longing, and when she takes a bite of her brother's toast, she can taste the anger.
While the concept of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake was good, the execution was off. First, after the first third of the book, the story shifts from Rose to her brother Joseph, who keeps mysteriously disappearing and reappearing. Also, Joseph is really angry and moody about something, but Bender never fully develops what he is so angry about. He chooses to shut himself off from in the world in a very unique way (which I will not spoil here) but Bender never says just why he needs to take such a drastic measure.
Also, even though Rose has this power, she doesn't really do a whole lot with it except tell a couple of people. The people she tells thinks it's a fascinating power, but still nothing else is done. After awhile her power is treated more like a magic trick than anything else.
So, while the idea of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake was intriguing, the story ended up missing the mark.
2 out of 5 stars.
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