I've been reading a lot of good books this year. But it's been a while since I read a great book, one that resonated with me and stuck in my mind long after reading it. Thank you, Aimee Bender, for reminding me what it feels like when a book pulls you out of yourself and forces you to look at life differently.
Rose is only twelve years old when it happens for the first time: her taste buds pick up flavors other than sugar and flour and lemon zest when she bites into a slice of lemon cake. She suddenly finds herself in possession of the most perceptive mouth. She can distinguish oranges by state and county, the exact farm an egg came from.
Most importantly though, she can taste the emotions and secrets of the people who make the food she eats. When her mother bakes her a chocolate lemon cake, she tastes a suffocating loneliness she never knew existed. It makes her gag, and she force feeds herself the rest, all the while her mother stares at her, asking her how it tastes.
From then on, Rose mainly subsists on packaged junk foods, preferring the emptiness of metal to the range of emotions and secrets concealed within homemade food. As she gets older, she begins to discover ever more serious secrets about those she loves, primarily her mother, father, and brother, and she continues to warily navigate the food world while those relationships with her family stretch and bend in surprising ways.
This is a coming-of-age novel, complete with sibling drama and first loves. But it is also about family, secrets, and loss. It is permeated by surrealism and bites of whimsy, humor and darkness colluding in the perfect mixture.
If I were to describe this novel in three words, I would say: Strange, sad, and beautiful. This novel explores the gifts and information we're given, and the choices we make with them.
10/10 📕