The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender

Loved this book.

It's a shorter book, very well written, and I read it in four hours.

I don't know how to talk about this book without revealing the ending, and I prefer not to reveal the endings of books as plot is very important to me as a reader.

(I'd looked forward to reading Pamela for years and when I read the critical introduction and found out the ending I couldn't bring myself to finish reading the book. Of course, that's ridiculous -- anyone who'd ever seen a romantic comedy would have guessed what the ending of that particular story would be -- except for me. I wouldn't have guessed. And the fact that that is ridiculous doesn't mean it's not true.)

So, I hate to reveal endings because I hate having them revealed to me.

There is an element of fantasy to this book, but you should not be misled by that. (There is perhaps more than an element of fantasy.) I view this fantastical element as a metaphor, used by the author to give the book greater universality.

I read this book for my book club.

I think the reasons I would give for why I loved this book would be that it was very well written; the plot was organized to achieve and maintain suspense; the prose was often plain and straightforward but often very poetic and always shapely; the behavior and thoughts of characters seemed psychologically authentic; and I found the discussions of food sensually appealing (in this way it seemed harmonious with my recent reading of Blood, Bones & Butter and Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle).

It is hard for me to recommend this book because I think it is about the things that grieve us most deeply. Its emotional honesty is sad; in this respect it reminds me of Chekhov.

A few or so years ago I saw a wonderful production of Chekhov's The Seagull. As I walked out of the theater with tears running down my face I turned to my companion and said, "Why should I pay for the privilege of having my heart broken?" You see I am committed to the notion of a satisfyingly happy ending and not ashamed of it.

There is one little detail about this experience I have to share. As I turned to my companion, I caught a glimpse of the one the very talented young actresses in the production peeking around the curtain to spy on us and find out if we loved her performance. And, we did.