
The Lemon
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Ari Fliakos
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By:
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S. E. Boyd
Winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor
“[T]his poised and playful debut novel is a sly satire on foodie culture and the modern hype machine. . . . As tart as ‘artisanal citrus,’ as sharp as a chef’s knife, The Lemon is both a gleeful foodie sendup and an incisive takedown of the commercial exploitation of just about everything.”
—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)
Named a Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2022 by Entertainment Weekly • Vogue • AARP the Magazine • The AV Club • Parade • Eater • New York Post • LitHub • Publishers Lunch • and more!
Set in the intersecting worlds of fine dining, Hollywood, and the media, a darkly hilarious and ultimately affecting story about the underside of success and fame, and our ongoing complicity in devouring our cultural heroes.
While filming on location in Belfast, Northern Ireland, John Doe, the universally adored host of the culinary travel show Last Call, is found dead in a hotel room in an apparent suicide. As the news of his untimely demise breaks stateside, a group of friends, fixers, hustlers, and opportunists vie to seize control of the narrative: Doe’s chess-master of an agent Nia, ready to call in every favor she is owed to preserve his legacy; down-on-her-luck journalist Katie, who fabricates a story about Doe to save her job at a failing website; and world-famous chef Paolo Cabrini, Doe’s closest friend and confidant, who finds himself entangled with a deranged Belfast hotel worker whose lurid secret might just take them all down.
Bolstered by the authors' insider knowledge of high-end restaurants and low-end media, The Lemon delivers a raucous examination of our culture with deliciously cutting prose, crackling dialogue, and an unpredictable plot that will keep you riveted to the last page.
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Critic reviews
"“[T]his poised and playful debut novel is a sly satire on foodie culture and the modern hype machine. . . . As tart as ‘artisanal citrus,’ as sharp as a chef’s knife, The Lemon is both a gleeful foodie sendup and an incisive takedown of the commercial exploitation of just about everything.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice)
“Boyd forcefully skewers what they refer to as the ‘Celebrity-Death Industrial Complex’ with spit-take-level humor.”—The Washington Post
“[An] acid, knife-edged satire on food-world mores and the vagaries of modern fame.”—Entertainment Weekly, Best New Books of Fall 2022
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Lots of fun 🤩
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Hilariously sarcastic
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While not a deep dive into the culture of kitchens in the culinary world, as a chef-written memoir would be, it offers enough of the passion they possess to really help shape their character and build the other side of them that we don't get glimpses of very often.
This was a really fun book to listen to. The audio performance was well done, though I wish the oration of the female characters was a little more thoughtfully produced.
I was immediately hooked and the author's ability to interlock each person's story slightly resembles the writing of Fredrik Backman in this way.
I'd recommend this book to anyone needing a quick escape or something to easily pickup and put down between tasks. My one complaint, is that this book could have easily been twice as long and could have avoided a very abrupt ending.
It almost needs another 50 pages
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Funny — but badly ended
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Cynicism
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Worth a listen!
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Loved it!
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some fun perfectly narrated
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Best book in years
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Smart, laugh out loud funny and best narration ever.
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