The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake: The heartwarming Richard and Judy Book Club favourite

I couldn't wait to read this book as the concept seemed fascinating to me. However I never really got into this book. I felt I had to force myself to pick it up and continue reading because it never fully captured me. I was disappointed that more wasn't made of Rose's gift. Despite the title implying that the book would be all about her unique talent, the narrative seemed to centre more on her brother's strange ability. It was frustrating that what happens to her brother is never fully explained. It seemed as though Bender didn't really know where to go with that story thread so decided just to touch on it without fully developing it. Due to the lack of the development, the characters seemed shallow and one dimensional and to be honest I didn't care for any of them. This may be me being fussy but I also found the writing style quite irritating, particularly the way no inverted commas were used to depict what was dialogue and what was description. I know this is probably a literary technique to make the writing flow and seem like a story being told straight to us, or perhaps to blur the lines of distinction or some other symbolic reason, but I just found it annoying and too simplistic. I would say that overall this was a great concept and had a lot of potential, however the execution of the idea was more than a bit disappointing. The ending leaves you feeling flat and with the strong sense that it could have been so much better which is a real shame.

It's not bad and it us well written, but for me personally it was alright, a little bit depressing.

Maybe the oddest thing I have ever read. But I definitely couldn't stop reading it.