Adios Lemons 🍋

Hello everyone! Hope you're all doing fine. Just got back from the TOK camp and it was fun! (and brain wrecking at the same time 😅 ). So I guess this will be my last entry on the novel 'The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake so it's time for some reflection!

Personally I really like this book. Even though it's a fantasy book, I think it's just the writer's way of portraying the message of communication breakdown in a family. And it's also very sad! Especially the last chapter omg 😭. And in this last chapter the author mentioned something about trees, and I think that she is trying to refer to life and how every one has their own way of adapting with them. Some may be blessed with never ending happiness while others are filled with struggles. But despite that, we all have our own ways of adjusting with it and in Rose's family's case they have their own special abilities to help them get through their every day miseries. Idk, what do you guys think?

The novel ends with a sentence with a very deep meaning (well, to me at least haha).

"Was it so different than the choice of a card-table chair, except my choice meant I could stay in the world and his didn't?"

I think Rose meant to say that even though her special abilities meant that she had to live with the thought of other's feelings, at least she still is in the 'real world' unlike Joseph who gets detached from reality. Idk if Joseph is considered selfish in this case, but the fact that he chose to remain as a chair was just heart-breaking for me. Was the burden of the world too hard for him to handle to the point that that was the only thing he could do. I wonder how it feels though hahaha.

This was the first novel I read that didn't have the inverted commas in the dialogues which I found quite bothering at first but got used to it I guess. The thing I like most about this novel is the way the author portrays such a meaningful message - through fantasy-like metaphors. I think all of the special abilities had their own hidden meanings, like maybe someone in Rose's situation in real life would wish to be able to read other people's feelings, etc. However, maybe I think some things should be clarified for example, what was the father's special abilities and the connection of the family with grandma perhaps. But overall, I would rate this book 7/10 and would recommend it to those who are open to unanswered questions while reading.

So I guess that's all I have to say in this last entry of mine. I hope you've enjoyed reading my entries so far and feel free to comment! Till we meet again 😄