The DIS Book Club Discussion Group: Round 5 - The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

[*NikkiBell*]

Hi everyone! Did you finish Part 3? If not, don't stress. Here's a question I thought might stir up some discussion this week. What do you think is behind the father's fear of hospitals? Do you fault him for not being present at the birth of his children?

 

[disneydreamgirl]

Hi all! I finally had a quiet day and was able to finished the last 2/3 of the book. I'm still mulling it all over...it certainly was an intriguing read. I haven't read all of your posts and have actually been avoiding this thread. I'm one of those people who doesn't even want an inkling of a detail before I've read it myself!

 

[princessbride6205]

I finished the book, and I'm still not sure what I think about the dad and hospitals. If I was his family member, I would definitely fault him for not being at the birth of his children!
I'm interested to read what others think...

 

[*NikkiBell*]

Now that many are finished with the book, we can take a look at it as a whole Here's something that has been eating at me..no pun intended...

Most of what Rose tastes in the foods she eats relates to negative feelings. Do you think that most hidden feelings are actually negative? Why?

 

[Califgirl]

Now that many are finished with the book, we can take a look at it as a whole Here's something that has been eating at me..no pun intended...

Most of what Rose tastes in the foods she eats relates to negative feelings. Do you think that most hidden feelings are actually negative? Why?

Well actually, I don't think that's necessarily true. During the bakery taste test, she felt one cookie was 'rushed' and the other was 'angry'. That was the state of mind of the bakers when they were making the cookies. I think what she's tasting is what is permeating the person at the time. According to the person working the counter, that is who they were at the time they were baking. If they had been joyous or relieved, or worried, I think she would have tasted that, but the predominate emotion while they were baking was what she tasted. When she found food that she loved, that was comforting, she went to that restaurant more often and even took a job washing dishes to be near those people.

Her grandfather also seemed to have more negative 'smell' experiences, but when he found someone who smelled good, he cultivated a lasting friendship with him.

Truthfully, we should all choose people to be around who are 'nourishing' to us, and make our lives better. Until Rose found the wonderful restaurant people, the best she could do was 'factory food', which could be like many of us who walk through life, living by rote instead of really taking notice and enjoying our everyday life.

So the question might be, are we nourishing and beneficial to our friends? Are we enjoying life or are we rushing through it and not fully living or enjoying it's gifts?

 

[Eeyores#1Fan]

Hi All! Today is the day that you should have finished Part Two (if not more). Because so many of us have mentioned a lot of thoughts they are eager to share on this section, I wanted to open it up as a "free for all" conversation. What was your impression of Part Two? of its characters?

Well I just finished reading part 2 (way behind I must admit...it's that lovely thing called a job....lol) 1st on the characters- let me say that Lane really seems ODD to me. I guess it's because of the type mom I am, the way she behaves frustrates me. Joe- (not having finished NOR really reading posts as to not spoil anything) at this point I think Joe is autistic or also has some unexplainable power like his sister. Can't quiet put my finger on it though. I must say the end of part 2 had me really trying to figure things out. Dad-hmmmm well my husband can miss quiet a lot around the house too when it comes to daily activities but rest assured if I were cheating he would know. I think the dad does know. Rose- well I just feel for her. I hate how she feels slighted by her parents and how she longs to be loved or understood rather. I think she knows they love her but that it's a family that's majorly lacking in communication skills. Could this be what developed her food issue??? The need to understand her people??? I've heard of stranger things.

There's my 2 cents....hopefully will finish Part 3 and can read all the lovely discussions taking place.

 

[NitroStitch]

Now that many are finished with the book, we can take a look at it as a whole Here's something that has been eating at me..no pun intended...

Most of what Rose tastes in the foods she eats relates to negative feelings. Do you think that most hidden feelings are actually negative? Why?

I was so far behind on the book that I had to avoid the whole thread to skip spoilers! Finally I got all the way through, and really enjoyed the read and the unusual story. It's hard to imagine having to live that kind of life, especially since you MUST eat to live.

Negative feelings are probably the ones hidden most often. They're about the subjects most likely to upset those they concern, and a lot of people don't want to deal with any negativity from anyone so there's not as much of a forum for those feelings. If the angry baker voiced the anger at work, he or she might lose her job. If Rose's mother voiced her emptiness and sadness or her extracurricular activities, her marriage might have ended, so she hid all of that. Rose hid her thoughts and feelings from nearly everyone, since most people had very negative reactions to her when she was honest about being able to taste emotions in others. It was interesting that she had such a hard time eating her own cooking for the feelings and also the "blankness" that she experienced.

 

[WDWGeek1971]

Just wondering. I love the selections! I've read two books, so far, that I never would have ever though of reading on my own and loved both of them.

Thank you, NikkiBell!

 

[*NikkiBell*]

Kevin and I have been debating over the next selection. Hopefully a decision will come around soon.

 

[MelissaFromRI]

Kevin and I have been debating over the next selection. Hopefully a decision will come around soon.

I vote for Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

 

[Ash&Wes07]

Kevin and I have been debating over the next selection. Hopefully a decision will come around soon.

I just stumbled upon this thread. I am excited there's a Book Club here, and I can't wait to see what you choose!!

 

[Eeyores#1Fan]

I vote for Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks

I second that!

 

[thunderbird1]

Just wondering. I love the selections! I've read two books, so far, that I never would have ever though of reading on my own and loved both of them.

Thank you, NikkiBell!

Just wanted to second this! I've posted on a couple of the book club threads, but not very often; mainly because I get my copies from the library and your choices are really popular so I usually have to wait quite a while for my name to come up on the hold list. Not complaining--I'm really enjoying the selections regardless of whether I read them with the group. Thanks again!

 

[*NikkiBell*]

Coming soon!!!

 

[DisneySunflower]

 

[DisneyKevin]

What do you think about the new Ken Follet novel Fall of Giants or Jonathan Franzen's Freedom?

Fall of Giants

Welcome to the 20th century as you've never seen it. At over 1,000 pages, Fall of Giants delivers all the elements that fans of Ken Follett have come to treasure: historical accuracy, richly developed characters, and a sweeping yet intimate portrait of a past world that you'll fully inhabit before the first chapter is through. The story follows five families across the globe as their fates intertwine with the extraordinary events of World War I, the political struggles within their own countries, and the rise of the feminist movement. Intriguing stories of love and loyalty abound, from a forbidden romance between a German spy and a British aristocrat to a Russian soldier and his scandal-ridden brother in love with the same woman. Action-packed with blood on the battlefield and conspiracies behind closed doors, Fall of Giants brings the nuances of each character to life and shifts easily from dirty coal mines to sparkling palaces. There is so much to love here, and the good news is the end is just the beginning: Fall of Giants is the first in a planned trilogy.

Freedom

Nine years after winning the National Book Award, Franzen's The Corrections consistently appears on "Best of the Decade" lists and continues to enjoy a popularity that borders on the epochal, so much so that the first question facing Franzen's feverishly awaited follow-up is whether it can find its own voice in its predecessor's shadow. In short: yes, it does, and in a big way. Readers will recognize the strains of suburban tragedy afflicting St. Paul, Minn.'s Walter and Patty Berglund, once-gleaming gentrifiers now marred in the eyes of the community by Patty's increasingly erratic war on the right-wing neighbors with whom her eerily independent and sexually precocious teenage son, Joey, is besot, and, later, "greener than Greenpeace" Walter's well-publicized dealings with the coal industry's efforts to demolish a West Virginia mountaintop. The surprise is that the Berglunds' fall is outlined almost entirely in the novel's first 30 pages, freeing Franzen to delve into Patty's affluent East Coast girlhood, her sexual assault at the hands of a well-connected senior, doomed career as a college basketball star, and the long-running love triangle between Patty, Walter, and Walter's best friend, the budding rock star Richard Katz. By 2004, these combustible elements give rise to a host of modern predicaments: Richard, after a brief peak, is now washed up, living in Jersey City, laboring as a deck builder for Tribeca yuppies, and still eyeing Patty. The ever-scheming Joey gets in over his head with psychotically dedicated high school sweetheart and as a sub-subcontractor in the re-building of postinvasion Iraq. Walter's many moral compromises, which have grown to include shady dealings with Bush-Cheney cronies (not to mention the carnal intentions of his assistant, Lalitha), are taxing him to the breaking point. Patty, meanwhile, has descended into a morass of depression and self-loathing, and is considering breast augmentation when not working on her therapist-recommended autobiography. Franzen pits his excavation of the cracks in the nuclear family's facade against a backdrop of all-American faults and fissures, but where the book stands apart is that, no longer content merely to record the breakdown, Franzen tries to account for his often stridently unlikable characters and find where they (and we) went wrong, arriving at--incredibly--genuine hope.

 

[NitroStitch]

I'm working on Franzen's Freedom now. Very interesting story so far.

 

[BeamsofLight]

I think the second one sounds interesting.

 

[*NikkiBell*]

Another to consider. It's pretty hot right now and came out recently...Juliet. Check out this guy's review...

Jamie Ford Reviews Juliet
Jamie Ford is the New York Times Bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, which was chosen as the #1 Book Club Pick for Fall 2009/Winter 2010 by the American Booksellers Association. Read his review of Juliet:


Okay, you’re here, on Amazon and by some clever and fortunate happenstance you’ve clicked over to Anne Fortier’s Juliet. First let me say, bravo. Not only are you intrepid enough to find this gem of a debut novel, but you are about to embark on a journey to Sienna (not Verona, for you Romeo and Juliet purists out there--don’t feel bad, I was one of them too) with our heroine, Julie Jacobs.

Secondly, my advice--aside from urging you to buy this book before someone else in your book club beats you to it--is to buckle up and hold on with both hands. You’re in for a wild ride--a lush, romantic voyage that will stimulate all of your literary senses.

Our story begins when Julie’s beloved Aunt Rose dies, leaving Julie and her twisted sister, Janice orphaned. (Their parents died years earlier in Tuscany). But while Aunt Rose leaves the family estate to Janice, Julie is bequeathed next to nothing, just a passport, a key, and a secret--that her real name is Giulietta Tolomei, a descendant of the Tolomeis and the Salembenis, the real families that inspired Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet—and that the "Curse upon both your houses," is alive and well, 600 years later.

With exquisite detail and flawless pacing, Juliet is a multi-layered tapestry of Julie’s present and Giulietta’s 14th-century past, where families, generations apart, are still at each other’s throats. Betwixt tragedy and epic romance, Juliet will stir your heart and quicken your pulse. After all, if Julie is Giulietta, then where art thou, Romeo?

And lest I forget, and in the interest of full disclosure, I must confess that I’m not your typical admirer of Shakespeare. Sure, one of my earliest childhood memories is of wandering around the prop room of Oregon’s famed Shakespeare Festival with MacBeth’s bloody head on a pike, and yes, instead of a traditional wedding reception, my wife and I opted to take everyone to a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (the wedding party still in full regalia), but please don’t hold that against me.

You will fall in love with Juliet, as I did, as she reinvents your perceptions of a Shakespearean classic.

 

[cc1013]

Great choices! I vote Freedom (reading now) or Juliet.