Join Aimee Bender to talk about THE PARTICULAR SADNESS OF LEMON CAKE, our October Book of the Month, TONIGHT, from 9pm

[TillyBookClub]

October's Book of the Month is THE PARTICULAR SADNESS OF LEMON CAKE by Aimee Bender, a New York Times bestseller and a recent Richard and Judy pick. Rose Edelstein lives in Los Angeles with her seemingly happy family. When she bites into a birthday cake on her ninth birthday, she suddenly tastes her mother's loneliness and unhappiness. After that, she can taste emotion in every morsel: anger in cookies made by a cross chef, distraction in her father's pudding, weariness in factory-processed butter. Worst of all, the blankness in her brother's toast. As Rose grows up, she finds her gift reveals all sorts of secrets she'd rather not confront, but that it cannot tell her everything...

Find out more about Lemon Cake on our book of the month page.

The lovely people at Random House have 50 copies to give away to Mumsnetters -just email your name and address to [email protected] and put Lemon Cake/Mumsnet in the subject box (THE BOOKS HAVE NOW ALL GONE)


Otherwise, you can get your paperback or Kindle version now.

We are thrilled that Aimee will be chatting to us about The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake and all her other books on Wednesday 2 November 9-10 pm. Look forward to seeing you there.

[OliviaMumsnet]

Aimee
I have a question from DS2's godmother (to whom I gave a copy of the book but she can't be here tomorrow as she's hosting a RL bookclub where they are discussing Another Book.

She wanted to know what gave you the idea?
She also wanted to know if you have The Time Travellers Wife as it reminded her in some ways of that book.

Thanks and see you all tomorrow which WILL be Wednesday.

[TillyBookClub]

I'm re-reading THAT chair scene today to get ready for tonight's chat - very much looking forward to hearing Aimee's answers to all the above, see you all at 9pm...

[Emski76]

i also loved the book, did find the lack of speech marks confusing at times, and did find the chair bit hard to understand, but then I'm a bit slow with these things!!
I loved the concept of the book, and really liked when the dad told her about his and his fathers 'talents'. Really interesting ending.
i wish had a question for Aimee but I can't think of anything, will come on to read the chat though.

[SexyDomesticatedDab]

Won't be joining tonight as on dads taxi run. Found book interesting overall - chair was a bit weird. Some of the localisms got me a bit worked out 'bangs' but there were a couple of others - maybe foods.

In the plot it looked like her fathers side had some similar 'powers'.

[AimeeBender]

testing, testing

[GeraldineMumsnet]

Aimee - and Tilly - that was just us testing your log-in :)

[Greedygirl]

I would love to know the inspiration for the book (sorry if anyone has already asked this).

[TheMonster]

the lack of speech marks was frustrating to me at first, but I got used to it and it have it a sort of recollection-effect.

Aimee, why did you choose not to use them? I'm curious as to what you wanted the effect to be.

As someone has said, I won't be passing my copy on yet because I want to re-read it after tonight's discussion.

[mymuchness]

I would like to know from Aimee which 'special skill' she would like to have...?

[oldenglishspangles]

What was the emotion that tasted in her own food that she didnt recognise?

[mymuchness]

How long did it take to write..?

[TillyBookClub]

Evening everyone

I'm absolutely thrilled and excited to introduce Aimee Bender as tonight's Author of the Month. THE PARTICULAR SADNESS OF LEMON CAKE has sparked much debate and there is so much to discuss, I'm delighted that we have the chance to ask a few questions.

So without further ado...

Aimee, firstly - congratulations on a beautifully written and magical book. And thank you for taking the time to talk to us. Perhaps we could kick off with the advance questions from further up the thread? And then we'll aim to get through as many as possible over the next hour.

I'd also like to add our standard two Mumsnet HQ questions:

Which childhood book most inspired you?

What would be the first piece of advice you would give anyone attempting to write fiction?

[AimeeBender]

Hello Tilly and all! First off, thanks so much for saying that and for having me. It?s really a pleasure to be here on this site meeting you all in this way.

About the childhood book--there are so many! I loved (predictably) the books about magical lands/places, like the L?Engle books and the Oz books. I must?ve read A Wrinkle in Time yearly for a good while. And The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles, a gem by Julie Andrews (same one) completely charmed me.

Advice in next post...

[AimeeBender]

And, about the advice?
generally, my first piece of advice is often about non-advice--- there?s A LOT of prescriptive advice about how to write a story, what a story needs, what should happen by the end of a story, and a lot of that can get in the way of actually telling the story you want to tell in the way you like to tell it. Fiction is a beautifully flexible form and can do all sorts of gymnastics. I love fairy tales, and it took me years to really embrace that and trust it as a true influence. So I tell people to admit what they love about other writing, what words they?re drawn to, what kinds of stories, what type of storytelling, and not to try to be a different kind of writer than they are. Of course this sounds easier than it is! It takes time to sort through.

[AimeeBender]

@MmeLindor

I read the book some time ago. It was one of the most memorable books I have read, both in terms of the surreal storyline and the beautiful prose.

Aimee
I would like to know if you have noticed a difference between the way that your novels are received in UK to the US, particularly in your native state. Are readers in some states or countries more willing to suspend logic and simply enjoy the unbelievable.

Thanks so much?I?m really so glad it spoke to you. I haven?t really noticed a difference in the two countries, but I do seem to hear that some readers don?t go for some of the magical elements, particularly with Joseph, which I respect, but it means they may be frustrated, and other readers will go with it and find something in it. I guess what I hope is that somehow the story revealed will stir a feeling in the reader, even if they don?t understand how to fit the feeling into the story right away. I?m especially interested in feeling/image over meaning; I want to give a reader an experience, and make her feel something, and what it means can open up over time.

[AimeeBender]

@RiffRaffeta

OK. I have a question. I found the depiction of the mother/son relationship very interesting, especially in relation to the mother/daughter one. I also found the mother a very interesting character outside this, a mother that seemed, on many levels, to break the traditional stereotypes.

Is the author drawing on personal experiences in either the relationships the mother has with her children or in character?

Thanks, RiffRaffeta. Very good to hear.
Let?s see? there isn?t a one-to-one experience that I?m using?meaning there isn?t one person who I mold into that character. It?s more that I sort of sit down at the computer and see what/who shows up. But of course the core of these relationships has to be familiar in some way or they wouldn?t feel like people. I can see a few people I know in the mother, but she?s also an invention, and I wanted to explore how she seemed to feel so differently towards Rose and Joseph and how that impacted each so differently, too. That she really looked to Joseph for a kind of guidance that didn?t fit his age/role, and Rose was the observer of that?she left out in a good way and also of course felt envious at times too.

[gailforce1]

Thanks for coming to talk to us Aimee!
As someone up-thread mentioned why did the grandmother not visit/was not visited?

[AimeeBender]

@RunforFun

I was lucky to get a free copy of this. Thanks !

I really enjoyed the book, although like others have said i sometimes had to read then re-read the page to try and get it clear in my own mind what was happening. It was very well written and reminded me of time travellers wife which was another odd story I wouldnt normally turn to but was captivated by in the end.

My question... humm... what gave you the basic idea for this novel ? it just seems so off the wall and unusual I cannot comprehend where i would begin to make up a story like this.

Thanks RunforFun I did a lot of reading and rereading while writing it so it makes sense, what you say! The basic idea is kinda hard for me to pinpoint but I was thinking a lot about what it means to be sensitive. What is good about that, and what is hard about that, and how people fall on a spectrum of sensitivity the 'too' sensitive, the 'insensitive', and on and on. I was wondering how we all cope with our varying degrees of porousness to the world.

[NYmomma]

I'd love to know the inspiration for the book. What idea was the spark that birthed the book?

[AimeeBender]

@OliviaMumsnet

Aimee
I have a question from DS2's godmother (to whom I gave a copy of the book but she can't be here tomorrow as she's hosting a RL bookclub where they are discussing Another Book.

She wanted to know what gave you the idea?
She also wanted to know if you have The Time Travellers Wife as it reminded her in some ways of that book.

Thanks and see you all tomorrow which WILL be Wednesday.

So, I actually haven't read The Time Traveller's Wife yet though I'd like to-- have heard good things.

Also, re the idea I have a close friend who is always talking about how she's digesting a conversation she had, or metabolizing it, or processing it and so in my mind there was a link made between our emotional lives and the good old G.I. tract.

[NYmomma]

I should add: Was it concrete? For example, did you taste something that allowed you to feel the cook's emotions? (And I loved that about the book & found it completely believable.)

[purpleturtletoise]

Spectrum of sensitivity - that's like a light-bulb moment for me in terms of understanding your story. Thanks! Seems completely obvious now, but I hadn't pulled it out of the novel for myself.

[AimeeBender]

@BodyOfEeyore

the lack of speech marks was frustrating to me at first, but I got used to it and it have it a sort of recollection-effect.

Aimee, why did you choose not to use them? I'm curious as to what you wanted the effect to be.

As someone has said, I won't be passing my copy on yet because I want to re-read it after tonight's discussion.

Ah, the quotes! Okay. Well, I'd actually read books that hadn't used quotes Cormac McCarthy and Jayne Anne Phillips and Judy Budnitz and I just always really liked the feel and the look. Or Jose Saramago's book Blindness he doesn't use quotes OR paragraph indentations! So it is a bit of work but I kind of like that. I did feel like it was a way to show how her internal and external worlds were meshing, but it's also just a visual choice when I would occasionally add quotes to see if I liked it better, they just looked wrong.

[AimeeBender]

@mymuchness

I would like to know from Aimee which 'special skill' she would like to have...?

A hard question! I'm not sure. I guess I do think it's helpful when a person can "turn off" his/her skill the way Rose can by occasionally eating machine food or just in between meals. So a skill that has some built-in limits. But I do like to try to be tuned into people. That's something I try to cultivate. And I think any kind of creative activity is appealing to me as a way to process what it's like to be a person.