The novel follows Rose Edelstein starting when she is nine and eats a piece of lemon cake that her mother prepared for her birthday. However, she tastes something in the lemon cake that she never has before. She tastes sadness, anger, and loneliness, all of the emotions that her mother was feeling when she baked the cake. During dinner that night, Rose can't help but gag when she tastes the chicken her mother prepared and tastes all of the same feelings. At first, Rose is terrified of her "special skill" and enlists the help of her brother's best friend who is a science whiz. However, he only reaffirms that she can taste people's deepest emotions, feelings that they may not even be aware of. As she gets older, she discovers that factory made food is the only food that she can tolerate because there are no emotions cooked into it. While Rose is discovering and fine tuning her special skill, her brother is also trying to harness his own. Unfortunately, no one (not even Rose) understands these skills or how one can use them safely without endangering their own happiness or even their lives.
When I started this novel, I couldn't put it down! The idea that a girl can taste a person's emotions in the food that they make was so revolutionary to me. There were so many directions that this book could go in that I found myself bringing it along with me everywhere (even to my best friend's wedding) to sneak in a page or two. Yet, around the middle of the novel it seemed to take an odd turn when it stopped focusing on Rose's abilities and started introducing those of her brother. However, I felt that the author never delved deeply enough into her brother's character to make it that interested in him or his struggles.
After finishing the book, I still don't completely understand his "skill" and have to say that I lost interest once the book changed its focus to his struggles. Though I thought there were plenty of directions this novel could take, it didn't take any and instead took on an almost science fiction twist that left me dissatisfied and disappointed.
-DLP
I just finished the book, and I cannot figure out what his brother's "skill" was either. I re-read a few pages that occur with the borther and are made to seem significant, but it left me confused. I wanted to like this book so much more.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and Mama Bear above. I had to reread brother part as I thought I'd skipped some pages, not words! Shame as it started out promisingly enough. However, others seemed to like it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the comments and on going discussion. I was perplexed by this book was much as you both were! I am a bit confused as to how it has such a large following because the story doesn't exactly fit into a genre. I do look forward to reading some of her writings in the future though that hopefully have the same interesting writing style minus the odd storyline.
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