The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

Published in 2010, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is a novel written by Aimee Bender. The story follows Rose Edelstein, who develops the ability to taste emotions in the food she eats. Rose’s relationship with food reflects the emotional tension of being raised in a very quirky family. Her mother feels trapped in her own life, her compliant father has a strange fear of hospitals, and her brother—deemed a science genius—possesses a weirdness that is off-putting. Entwining elements of surrealism into a narrative of realism, the author uses Rose’s bizarre ability to represent her powers of perception and capacity for recognizing the needs of others.

The novel begins right before Rose Edelstein’s ninth birthday. Upon eating a cake that her mother, Lane, has made, Rose discovers that it tastes of emptiness and sorrow. While Rose’s mother denies that she is unhappy, Rose can tell from the cake that her mother is lying. Rose soon discovers that she can taste emotions in all the food she consumes, and she can’t stand it.

Unable to understand Rose’s complaints about the food, Rose’s mother assumes she herself is making mistakes in the kitchen. Rose’s father, Paul, is oblivious to anything peculiar going on. Joseph, Rose’s brother, thinks Rose is crazy.



Joseph’s friend George is the only person who seems to take Rose’s condition seriously. George is also very kindhearted toward Rose. He designs an experiment to determine the strength of her abilities. He takes Rose to a bakery where she eats a cookie she describes as angry. The cookie, indeed, matches the state of the baker. When Rose tastes the sandwich made by his girlfriend, Rose claims it is “yelling at me to love it.” The baker concedes that this probably accurately describes his situation with his girlfriend.

Rose and George both conclude that she is best able to detect emotions in those who do not comprehend their own emotions. According to Rose, anyone who touches the food she eats leaves a slight emotional imprint on it.

One day, Rose eats a bite of a pie her mother has cooked, and she collapses, scratching at her mouth. Panicked, Lane brings her to the emergency room, where Rose demands that they remove her mouth. When Rose is calmer, she realizes that talking about her strange ability will only serve to make others think she is insane, so from then on, she does not mention it again.



For years, Rose must deal with her ability. She tries to eat factory-produced food, but when she is forced to eat homemade food, her mother’s emotions become dominant. At age 12, Rose eats some roast beef on one occasion and experiences such overpowering feelings of guiltiness and romance that she is sure her mother is having an affair.

Learning about her mother’s affair causes Rose to pursue a stronger relationship with her father. Rose attempts to engage him in conversation, during which Paul admits that he has such a great fear of hospitals that he did not even enter the one she and Joseph were born in, and he would likely not enter one even if she became terribly ill.

Rose notices that Joseph will often disappear, and when he reappears, he usually looks worn out, though he will not explain where he was. Joseph has been rejected by most of the colleges he applied for, so he enrolls at a local college. When Joseph keeps begging his parents to let him get his own apartment, his parents finally agree if Joseph will agree to call them every afternoon.



Years pass and, one day, Lane and Paul fail to receive a call from Joseph. Lane drives over and finds Joseph shaky and dehydrated, facedown on the floor of his living room.

One day, when Joseph disappears once again, Rose—now a senior in high school—goes to check on him. When she arrives, Rose finds Joseph in his bedroom. Looking down, she discovers that Joseph is metamorphosing himself and becoming part of the chair he is sitting on, and the chair’s legs are somehow combined with his. Rose steps away to get help, and when she returns Joseph is gone.

Rose is still enamored of George, and she calls him asking for help. George and Paul arrive, but Rose is incapable of explaining precisely what happened. Her father quickly dismisses the issue, seemingly not wanting to know the truth. George makes an effort to understand and comes to believe Rose. Before they leave, George kisses Rose.



For the first time, Rose decides to cook a meal for herself, but when she tastes the pasta, she is aghast at her own emotions. She tastes sorrow, a longing to be eight years old again, and a coldness that makes her think of factories. She begins working to change this feeling.

Instead of going to college, Rose stays home and takes an office job. Eventually, she discovers a restaurant where the food actually tastes normal. The cook, Rose ascertains, is mainly thinking about the ingredients and the taste of the food. Soon, Rose gets a job as a dishwasher at the restaurant.

Though George occasionally calls Rose for the next several years, Rose admits that she is not ready for a relationship. George eventually gets married to someone else.



One night, Rose finds her father looking over an old photo album. She sees a cloth tied over her grandfather’s face in a picture, and when she asks Paul about it, he says that his father wore it because he had the ability to smell other’s emotions so strongly that it was painful. When Rose tells her father about her ability, he instantly believes her. He also tells her he thinks he has a similar skill, but they would need to go to a hospital to find out. He feels, however, that this skill would be unbearable. Suddenly, Rose understands that Joseph’s skill of transformation might be unbearable as well.

Eventually, Rose begins embracing her skill and uses it to help people, providing insight about the food to those at the restaurant and aiding people with discovering and dealing with their own emotions.

At the end of the novel, Rose encounters Joseph once more. He is in the hospital due to his weak condition, and when Rose goes to see him, Joseph explains that it is easier for him to be furniture than for him to be human. Rose realizes that the way Joseph requires solitude is similar to the way she retreats from other’s emotions by consuming factory-produced food.