Thank you Jane for hosting a wonderful meeting and serving a delicious cake, filled with genuine care. It seems that Aimee Bender's novel left many of us with lots of feelings, which we really delved into (perhaps overdelved to a point of demonizing) and were able to explore.
First, I think that all of us agreed that there were moments of the book that we loved and that the conceptual basis of the book is fantastic. That excitement, unfortunately, was snuffed as the plotline veered into strange and, honestly, uninteresting territory. The idea that Bender's main character can taste the emotion with which a cook makes a meal is fantastic and opens the door to so many different plot possibilities. I, for one, was enthralled through the first part of the book, excited to see where such an unusual and phenomenal trait would land the character. The possibility that not just a child, but a woman, with real insight and emotional experience, would be given such a gift/curse is tremendous. Unfortunately for readers, this road is never explored. The character avoids food and becomes emotionally detached. Throughout the book, any moment that may, through deeper exploration, have proved to deepen any of the characters is abruptly shallowed. Her love interest, whom she kisses once, suddenly gets married, an event at which the narrator is completely detached. Any possible story lines when real depth, especially given the main character's insight, are simply never approached.
Further, the second half of the book focuses on the older brother, who also possesses a hidden talent: the ability to disappear into furniture. Unlike his sister's talent, this skill carries with it no possible emotional insight upon which to build a story. He simply vanishes and people look for him, the implications of which are dealt with in one or two pages at the end of the book: some people are able to utilize their talents, while others never use theirs or avoid them. Hmmm...right.
Thus, the only person that the main character's talent ever illuminates is her mother, whose desperation is turned to an affair that, again, is never explored. Perhaps the reason the book is ultimately so frustrating is that the questions existed, but were left unasked by the author, despite them looming large in the minds of readers.
