The first quarter of this book is quite melancholic. And then things start getting really weird somewhere in the Joseph section.... Now I'm mostly just confused. 
 Wow, I added this book to my list back in 2010...I'm pretty sure I had read a review for it in the paper or something. In any case, I've never read Aimee Bender before, so I'm not sure if she typically has these kinds of story elements all the time. 
 When I read the synopsis of the book, I imagined a quirky kind of novel about a girl with a fantastical version of synesthesia; she can taste the feelings of others in the food they prepare. She first comes across this "skill" when she is eight and has a piece of her mother's lemon cake (with chocolate frosting) and experiences an overwhelming sadness. What follows is a quiet kind of novel, set in first person, detailing the small intricacies of one family. 
 (view spoiler)[What I didn't expect was the much more fantastical storyline with the brother of the main character. There were hints to it, so it's not like I can say I wasn't prepared for it. But the fact that he all of a sudden can turn into furniture really took me aback for the rest of the book. As other reviewers have mentioned, I kept re-reading, or voraciously reading forward hoping to find some kind of explanation...but there wasn't any. (hide spoiler)]