The Lemon
A Novel
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3.9 • 14 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This uneven debut satire from Boyd, a pen name for journalists Kevin Alexander and Joe Keohane and editor Alessandra Lusardi, centers on the death of an Anthony Bourdain–like TV personality named John Doe. After Doe dies accidentally in a Belfast hotel room from autoerotic asphyxiation, his close confidant, chef Paolo Cabrini, and his agent, Nia Greene, spin Doe's death as a suicide, determined to keep any "salacious" elements out of the story. As the news breaks, a small army of opportunists latch onto the narrative. In Nevada, Doe's old chef pal Patrick Whelan sets his sights on taking over Doe's television program. In New York, low-level blogger Katie Horatio publishes a viral post in which she falsely claims to have recently shared a meal with Doe. And in Belfast, hotel employee Charlie McCree snaps a photo of Doe's corpse, strikes up a conversation with Cabrini, and sees an opening to move to America. The writers are unafraid to let each character show an unpleasant side, but the narrative loses focus by the final act. Still, there's plenty of barbed commentary along the way (Nia on Patrick: "He'd still be a great chef, if only he hadn't self-commoditized with such desperate abandon that it killed his art"). Foodies might enjoy this.
