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.

[mymuchness]

I think I wanted to know 'why' Joseph behaved the way he did... was it down to his reaction to his mothers affair, why did he do what he did? Plus what significance did the door in his room have...? Was it supposed to represent a way of getting out...?? what was special about that particular chair that made him ring his grandmother..?

[AimeeBender]

@MmeLindor

By "road mapless" do you mean you had no idea while writing how it would progress/end?

I am trying to write a book at the moment and find that I make it up as I go along, without having a plan of what is going to happen. I had the impression that this was somehow doing it wrong. That I should have index cards and a proper plot all planned.

Oh, I could spend pages answering this! You are not doing it wrong!! There's a weird pressure to plan books and many, many writers I know do not. The great wonderful advantage to making it up as you go along is that you will stumble into places that surprise you (I did not know what the deal was with Joseph and when people describe it as eerie it was very eerie for me too!). Robert Frost has this great quote: "No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader." Which to me means you have to go launch into the soupy unknown with your little flickery lamp and later we will follow you and see what you find there. Toss the cards!

[mymuchness]

p.s I was convinced he was teleporting or time travelling! Would never have guessed he was changing into objects..!
thanks for answering our questions!

[MegnMog]

I found Joseph's retreat from the world incredibly moving. Is Joseph's gift that he picks up people's emotions through touch, or is it by just being around them? Does he try to cope by disappearing or merging with objects that have no feelings as a way of avoiding other people's feelings and feeling nothing for a while?

[AimeeBender]

@southlondonlady

Hi Aimee, I really enjoyed the book. George is a lovely character, we're you tempted to have him and Rose get together? It was more realistic I think that they didn't!

This all makes me want to come to London. It's fun, doing this.
I think that was sparked by your 'southlondonlady' name. Great city.

Anyway, thank you! I was tempted, but I knew that it was unlikely. She just in no way seemed ready. He was so much more connected to others than she was and she's on her way but he was ready to get close to someone.

[MmeLindor.]

Thank you so much for that answer.

[OliviaMumsnet]

Thanks for answering my q's Aimee.

MmeLindor Perhaps the cards and plot planned on the wall is procrastination of kinds??

For those (like me) who are scared witless of the soupy unknown (that phrase gave me goosebumps btw)

[AimeeBender]

@Mrsoverreaction

BodyofEeyore and Aimee:
Yes I love the line about the negative salad. This has also really made me think about projecting feelings, such as when I say to DH, "DD has been a bit grumbly today" and then, reflecting on that, I've realised that I've been the grumbly one and wondering how much my emotions affect her behaviour. A lot I think!

Exactly! What felt crucial to me was that Rose wasn't tasting the feelings the person was aware of-- she was tasting the unconscious/unknown/tucked away feelings that do creep in outside of our awareness. And when she'd ask her mom, 'are you sad?' her mom said no. But it was kind of obvious that she was unhappy.

[AimeeBender]

@NYmomma

Thanks for answering all of my questions, Aimee. I'm a fan of the understated, so I enjoyed having to fill in the blanks with Joseph and whatever Rose didn't know. I liked the room that the narrator gives to the reader, and I think that must be hard as a writer. You want to tell the reader everything to make sure they're getting what you're trying to express, so you must have had to be quite restrained. You say a lot by not saying too much--if that makes sense. I enjoyed that power as a reader.

Thanks, NY I really appreciate it. Truth is, though, I'm not holding back I'm stepping away from meaning too and trying to just convey a feeling. Am trying to shut down the analytical side of my brain. And I do trust that if I make the scene solid enough, then meaning will creep in at some point, but maybe not right away. In fact, I think it can be a disadvantage if I fully understand the book I'm writing. Then it's all unpacked already, you know?

[AimeeBender]

@mymuchness

I think I wanted to know 'why' Joseph behaved the way he did... was it down to his reaction to his mothers affair, why did he do what he did? Plus what significance did the door in his room have...? Was it supposed to represent a way of getting out...?? what was special about that particular chair that made him ring his grandmother..?

Hi there, good questions. I guess the way I think of it is that he was somehow overwhelmed. He was her point of guidance, even as a baby, and it was too much for him. The splinter removal being a way for him to exit her body, literally. The door I think the mom built it in the hopes that he would behave like a 'normal' teen and sneak out but he wasn't one to sneak out he left in a much more insidious/disconnected way. But of course the person who ended up sneaking out that door was likely... her.
And that chair-- I'm not sure, but it felt useful to me that it was machine made, also a chair like his mom made but not one of her chairs, and from the detached grandma.

[AimeeBender]

@mymuchness

p.s I was convinced he was teleporting or time travelling! Would never have guessed he was changing into objects..!
thanks for answering our questions!

My pleasure! Others have said that too and I'm fine with that, but it's definitely a more hopeful read.

[TheMonster]

It's certainly food for thought, MrsOverreaction. Perhaps that's an apt phrase, given the book's subject.

With regard to ebooks and Kindles, I am not interested in getting one. I love the physicality of a book. I guess that's why I go for CDs and not MP3s.

Aimee, why the chair? Why that chair? Why not another piece of furniture?

And, if her brother can turn into a chair, could Rose turn into food one day?

[AimeeBender]

@MegnMog

I found Joseph's retreat from the world incredibly moving. Is Joseph's gift that he picks up people's emotions through touch, or is it by just being around them? Does he try to cope by disappearing or merging with objects that have no feelings as a way of avoiding other people's feelings and feeling nothing for a while?

Thanks, Megn I'm so glad. I'm not really sure what his gift was, but I imagine he was inundated and had no limits like Rose did by choosing her meals. He was, possibly, more porous, in that way. And yes what you say about disappearing/merging with objects rings very right to me.

[TillyBookClub]

What are you reading at the moment?

And are you working on another book?

[TheMonster]

I just thought he was off doing runners!

[AimeeBender]

@OliviaMumsnet

Thanks for answering my q's Aimee.

MmeLindor Perhaps the cards and plot planned on the wall is procrastination of kinds??

For those (like me) who are scared witless of the soupy unknown (that phrase gave me goosebumps btw)

My pleasure. Happy about the goosebumps. I think we are all (or most?) terrified of that soupy unknown but of course it is around us and part of our lives constantly! So writing, in a way, can be an exercise in exploring it. That's why I think if people want to write they should write, and publishing is a side dish.

[southlondonlady]

Great questions & answers so far! If Joseph had managed to get into college with George do you think things would have been different for him?

[AimeeBender]

@BodyOfEeyore

It's certainly food for thought, MrsOverreaction. Perhaps that's an apt phrase, given the book's subject.

With regard to ebooks and Kindles, I am not interested in getting one. I love the physicality of a book. I guess that's why I go for CDs and not MP3s.

Aimee, why the chair? Why that chair? Why not another piece of furniture?

And, if her brother can turn into a chair, could Rose turn into food one day?

Good question! In a way, doesn't she? When she tastes the factory, isn't she kind of seeing in herself the facets she doesn't want to see? It's not turning into food, but it's seeing herself reflected in food....

Also I don't think she'd want to leave as much as he wanted to leave.

That chair-- I guess it goes back to it being this ordinary object. Kind of a way to pay tribute to his mother and also rebel. If he'd picked a chair made by her, it would've been total absorption into her, in a way. But this was an exit for him, albeit a kind of brutal one.

[Mrsoverreaction]

Very clever, BodyofEeyore! And yes, I wondered why Joseph's skill enabled him to make actual physical changes, whereas Rose's didn't. Is it because he worked so hard at it over the years? After all, he's clearly a physics whizz and very focused on his skill; was he trying to explore the possibilities and boundaries of his particular skill?

[mymuchness]

I found the comment about sensitivity really interesting - I thought that Rose and Joseph particularly have this kind of empathy with others but EXTREME empathy.
Do you consider yourself to be a particularly empathic friend or do you see disadvantages in very close connections??

[MmeLindor.]

Olivia
ooh, good point. I am the master of procrastination.

[AimeeBender]

@TillyBookClub

What are you reading at the moment?

And are you working on another book?

Working away, and it looks like mostly short stories at the moment but I do have some little starts of what could be another novel. It takes me awhile to find a novel! And I really like writing stories, too.

Reading just read and reviewed Helen Oyeyemi's Mr. Fox so good! And am rereading Hans Christian Andersen for a fairy tale class I teach tomorrow. I love rereading those. The students are always shocked to discover how the real "Little Mermaid" ends.

[AimeeBender]

@southlondonlady

Great questions & answers so far! If Joseph had managed to get into college with George do you think things would have been different for him?

Thank you! Possibly-- I sort of imagine George being someone who would've checked on him in his dorm room so he couldn't totally isolate. But at some point George had to move on, so maybe it was inevitable and just would've been delayed.

[NYmomma]

"In fact, I think it can be a disadvantage if I fully understand the book I'm writing. Then it's all unpacked already, you know?"

I agree--because then the book isn't overly prescriptive.

I just want to add that I love the characters of Rose & George especially because they're so unconventional. Rose doesn't care particularly about having a pack of friends, she doesn't go to university, she doesn't move out of her family home as soon as she can. She seems very connected to herself; she knows herself well, as does her brother. Actually, all of the characters know themselves well even if they can't communicate that knowledge to each other. I love that you've written different characters & that they don't aspire to be status quote; they're not wishing they could be "normal." I'd love my daughter, when she's much older, to read this book and see that everyone doesn't have to/want to conform. So thank you as a parent!

[oldenglishspangles]

Thank you for answering my question. Now you have answered it, I cant believe I missed it. I loved the way the book allowed me to empathise with Rose, in that there are certain feelings / emotions in people I feel/ sense which makes me uncomfortable. I can't always stop thinking about them, its almost like a sensory overload. Interestingly I liked the way my emotions conflicted in respect of Joseph. I felt consfused and frustrated that he shut himself of,f but at the same time envied the fact that he could find peace in escaping from world when it all got too much.