Quirky book focuses on 'sadness'

"The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake" by Aimee Bender, 2010, Doubleday, $25.95/$30 Canada, 304 pages: The recipe is the original, in her handwriting. You’ve figured out that a "handful" equals one cup, and a "pinch" is a quarter teaspoon. You’ve measured and spooned and sifted faithfully.

So why can’t you get anything to taste the way grandma made it? You wish she was around to tell. What mysterious addition made food different when it came from her kitchen?

Ask Rose. There’s always something extra in her food, but in the new book "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake" by Aimee Bender, it’s rarely edible.

It started on the cusp of Rose Edelstein’s ninth birthday. Rose’s mother was excited to have time to bake a special cake, a lemon one from a delicious-sounding recipe. From the oven, it smelled wonderful, but one bite, and Rose knew something was wrong. Despair overwhelmed her, and she couldn’t finish.

Hardly anyone would believe her, for sure. Rose’s father was always working and when he was home, he was exhausted and barely had energy for TV watching. Her brother, Joseph, was a strange boy who loved math and physics and being alone. Her mother, the source of all sad food, was wrapped up in a new job that was fulfilling in a new-job sort of way. The only person who didn’t scoff was George, Joseph’s best friend, and Rose loved him for it.

By age 12, the "gift" was honed so well that Rose could taste the difference between oranges from Florida and oranges from California.

Her tongue knew each factory, each grass-feeding beef farm, every garden from every state. She tasted anger and happiness, love and machinery. Her odd ability never left her, and it was strong enough to know that her mother was having an affair.

At age 17, Rose cooked her first meal and ate it, not recognizing the factory taste of herself.

That was the year Joseph disappeared for the last time, her mother started sleeping in his old bed night after night and Rose’s father took up jogging after dark. It was the year that Rose made a fool of herself over George.

But it was also the year that Rose found the restaurant she’d been searching for all her life.

There, spinach was spinach, and onions had no meaning.

There, food was for savoring, and secrets were safe.

There are a lot of adjectives that can be used to describe author Bender’s latest novel: quirky, weird and odd. Also: compelling and addictive. The ultimate fact is that "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake" is probably the strangest book you’ll never want to put down.

But here’s the thing: I say that with no small amount of amazement. I wasn’t too keen on the plot of this book at first, but Bender’s precocious Rose made me stay. I was glad I did, because this book turned out to be purely irresistible.

Perfect for vacationing, weekending or for book groups, I think you’ll like "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake." If you’re in the mood for something different, you’ll eat this book up.

'GONE’ REVIEW

"Gone Too Far" by Angela Winters, 2010, Kensington Dafina, $14/$16.95 Canada, 336 pages with reader’s guide: Who said relationships were easy? Whoever he was, he was wrong.

Your beloved has good traits and bad, which mesh with yours only sometimes. There’s give in a relationship and there’s take, and it’s balanced if you’re lucky. Some days, love fills you up, and other days, you wonder what you were thinking when you chose that man. Oh, it’s so complicated.

Now throw scads of money and power into the mix, stir with a little revenge and watch what happens in the new novel "Gone Too Far" by Angela Winters.

Beautiful Avery Jackson had gotten herself into a mess.

Not long ago, Avery was happy and in love with Carter Chase, lawyer and son of billionaire Steven Chase. She and Carter had a daughter and life was good, but then it wasn’t, and their relationship was broken.

Devastated, Avery married Anthony Harper on the rebound, and now she was stuck: Anthony was wheelchair bound due to an accident. What kind of woman leaves a man like that, even if it’s to reunite with the man she still adores?

On the rebound himself, Carter was engaged to sultry Julia, who should be everything a man wants in a woman.

But as much as he admired Julia’s body, the truth is that Carter still loved Avery. Strangely, he hated her, too. He hated her for leaving him.

Carter wished he could confide in his brother, Michael, but Michael had problems of his own. His ex-wife, Kimberly, had custody of their twin sons, and though he knew he should leave her alone, he couldn’t. She was bad news – Steven Chase warned his son of that quite often – but Michael still wanted her.

Nobody ever said "no" to Steven Chase for long – not his eldest daughter, Leigh, who took her name and her inheritance and founded free clinics for the state’s poor; and not his youngest child, Haley, who married a beach bum in exchange for $30 million. A man couldn’t grow a business on the word "no," and he couldn’t control his family with it, either.

Even though Steven Chase had tried to run Kimberly out of town, she just wouldn’t go.

No matter how much money he threw at her, she was determined to stay in California, partly because her boys needed their daddy, and partly because Kimberly knew that revenge would be so sweet ...

Got a pad of paper? You’ll need it, and a pen, too, because "Gone Too Far" is overfilled with so many characters that note-taking may be necessary.

In this, the latest in the "View Park" series, author Winters revisits the next generation of rich, pampered Chases and their manipulating parents.

The surprising thing to me was that everybody seemed to be softening in this installment.

Will Steven rediscover his meanness mojo? Will the twins take after grandpa? Will I have an easier time telling characters apart in the next novel?

If you like a soap-opera atmosphere in your books, you’ll love "Gone Too Far." Just be aware that, like any good relationship, it’s complicated.

TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER has been reading since she was 3 years old and never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 11,000 books.