March 5 - Audiobook review

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, read by the author, was initially intriguing but painful, and ultimately depressing and disappointing. It's a tale about a young girl who suddenly discovers she can taste the emotions of whoever prepared her food. She is then unintentionally tortured by the knowledge of her mother's unhappiness, her brother's isolation, the cafeteria lady's despair. As she grows, she matures into the "gift", and discovers odd gifts run in her family, but doesn't promise much human hope or worthiness.

I generally prefer professionally narrated stories, since authors themselves often can't provide the voice variation to draw me into the drama. Every time she read "I said, she said, he said, so I said" I started to suck in my breath a little. While the cover reviews tout it as an insightful, fantastical exploration of what it's like to love those you know too much about, it left me empty, with a dry, bitter taste in my mouth.