Lemon

This book is not about a lemon at all. It's about being awake. I read it twice, the second time in one day, which I recommend: Turn off the phone and let it take over your brain. It's a fast read that expands into a gigantic mental meal that is so rich, insanely funny, unusual, and smart you could have trouble returning to other books. It will make you happy you HAVE a brain (and a soul). This book is not for everybody, it is definitely NOT for people looking for "answers." (See previous review. I saw that and had to correct it). It's for people starving for something new who are not afraid to actually get something new. Bravo to McSweeney's for continuing to have the guts to publish genius against the grain.

This is a wonderful, inventive, unpretentious, and surprisingly affecting book. Krauser's unruly prose has a tendency to wander at times, but it will never stray so far as to lose your interest, and when it returns home to the central love story, you will be captivated. "Lemon" is both heartbreaking and hilarious. I enjoyed it immensely.

yellow like the dawn, cool as the wind, sweet as a citrus flake. this book burns like the lemon's acid, into your senses and leaves a brand. like nothing else between two covers. read this book and be blown skyward like a tower of water. sink deep into it and Krauser's brilliant writing, so brilliant that people were terrified to publish it. Truth in his words. this book is perfect like an afternoon nap.

Lawrence Krauser's new novel Lemon moves through you like a dream. Its voice is a whisper one moment and a roar the next, its rhythms soothe you with an odd familiarity. And while you're in it, it makes perfect sense.It's a love story like none before. Wendell is an unassuming but frantic-minded office drone who's just been left by his girlfriend. His life continues to swirl about him, and Marge's departure doesn't hit him as hard as it should. Enduring the consolation of well-meaning friends and hopeless parents, Wendell stumbles upon a discarded lemon in his apartment's hallway. And there he finds love.The attraction begins as a low thrum, and even amidst absurdity Wendell finds the familiar in unfamiliar form. It's love, "an elusive jungle bird that because it is so durable has thousands of mimics and camouflaged neighbors." And when everything else begins to fall apart around him, from his roach-laden apartment to his health, only the lemon remains faithfully by his side.The courtship begins as a tactile curiosity, as Wendell develops a slow fascination for the lemon's feel, its comforting consistency. Placed upon his desk, the fruit begins to get his attention as a welcome distraction from his mundane job, but it quickly becomes a singular source of solace. He protects it, admires it, and shortly sees in it what his life cannot provide- purity, light, simple beauty.Krauser's dancing prose draws us in to Wendell's enchantment. As the man's fascination for the fruit grows to obsession, he finds its allure everywhere, from the colors of the city to the curves of architecture and the perfection of art. We're tempted at first to equate the scenario's absurdity to insanity, but Krauser weaves the narrative so closely with Wendell's perceptions that we actually feel him become saner as the relationship deepens. His hyperstructured observations of the world transform into poetic sweeps of epic scope. The music in his head seems to take shape as his object of desire becomes clearer, and his affection towards it becomes more fully expressed.As Wendell's passions escalate, so do his troubles. His fixation becomes harder to hide, and he's reluctantly forced to admit to a baffled world that he has found in a fruit what no human could provide. His nurtured upbringing rejects everything about his new source of vitality, but his nature wins out. As the trappings of his existence drop away, life's pleasures take over. His days become playful and lyrical. Even his health improves.Despite the rising arc of clarity, however, Wendell remains trapped in a world that can never appreciate his new intimacy. Those closest to him try to rationalize his behavior, but Wendell knows his situation is beyond the realm of reason. It's only a matter of time before the forces of nurture take over again in a Kafkaesque attempt to reclaim their turf.Krauser's gift for language is exquisite. He's a playwright and a musician, and it shows in both the craft of the book's episodic

This book is totally original, brilliantly written. It's also playful and a joy to read. Totally unpredictable--for example, right in the middle of the story there's an entire chapter of lemon-inspired poetry. The writer (where'd he come from anyway?) takes enormous liberties with the English language, which can be confusing but is worth the trouble. The plot is quirky but somehow it grabs you immediately. Krauser did a great job of making his main character Wendell and Wendell's weird problem totally engrossing. I'll never look at a lemon again without smiling, remembering this book.