The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

I did not mind the dialogue structures, I have read Saramago, some Joyce and a lot of Maddox, so it was not really a big deal. But I felt very empty of emotions, and not in a good, "oh life is complicated and this novel is revealing that sad universal truth to me" way. By the end of the novel I felt the real story was starting to unravel, with a young Rose learning to coexist with her power thanks to a new, quaint, homely restaurant family. But her powers and her family powers are never truly explored as I think they should. They are shown to make their carriers feel uncomfortable, they make the reader uncomfortable, but the questions that arise over these strange sufferings are never fully adressed. I think potentially good writers with interesting ideas need good editors who tell them that they are drifting into anecdotes, into sudden descriptions that only add volume to the book but not coherent substance. As a short story, or a short novel, without the brother and other side-tracked elements, this could have been a very heartfelt, introspective novel. As it is, it is just a strange recollection of superpowers, a broken family and silences.