Allophile

...synesthesia of taste and emotion? A recent novel...

A while back my wife and I came across this title in the bookstore:
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.

The title got me.

Then the premise did:
     On the eve of her ninth birthday, unassuming Rose Edelstein bites into her mother's homemade lemon-chocolate cake and discovers she has a magical gift: she can taste her mother’s emotions in the slice. To her horror, she finds that her cheerful mother tastes of despair. Soon, she’s privy to the secret knowledge that most families keep hidden: her father’s detachment, her mother’s transgression, her brother’s increasing retreat from the world. But there are some family secrets that even her cursed taste buds can’t discern. (synopsis from the publisher)

I got the book, a novel by Aimee Bender, published last year for my wife...and then before she could get to it, I ended up starting it yesterday and finishing it today after work...


A few reviews:
--from the Seattle Times
--from NPR
--a review from a New Zealand paper

A fable set in L.A. involving  magical Realism? A take on synesthesia?
Surprisingly engrossing.
A clever premise, if you can 'just go with it.'
Go with it.