The Lemon

by S.E. Boyd, Ari Fliakos (Narrator)

7 Hours and 33 Minutes.

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.

Genres: Fiction, Humor, Food, Comedy, Book Club, Contemporary, Literary Fiction

8 pages, Audiobook

First published November 22, 2022

Reviews

[Jessica Woodbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somehow this satire of the world of food and fame is both caustic and bouncy, careening with glee through the moral dilemmas faced by its characters. It's very readable, moving through perspectives of several different characters after the death of famous writer and food personality John Doe (so obviously an Anthony Bourdain "type" that you could just call him a fictionalized Bourdain and the refusal to give him a real name only makes it feel more like a Bourdain stand-in) including Doe's grieving best friend, his ambitious agent, his former employer turned sell out restaurateur, and an underpaid writer who sees her shot.

All that said, this novel walks a very fine line, or at least it tries to. The whole setup involves a death, possibly by suicide or possibly by accident but either way involving an unpalatable situation. That this sad outcome is seen as an opportunity is a commentary on the media and capitalism and the way everyone tries to turn every situation to their own financial gain. But it often didn't quite hit for me because, as we are reminded so often, that was really not Doe's method, he eschewed all of that and really wanted food and connection, to travel the world and show people what was out there.

Add to that the fact that it feels like we are actually talking about a real life person who really did die not that long ago in ways that can feel quite similar, and, well, sometimes it can feel quite ghoulish. In its own way the book feels like it may be doing the very same thing: a book deal where the whole pitch is a ripped-from-the-headlines plot.

But then again, what else does satire do? I think many will read without scruples, enjoying the biting commentary. It is hard to find anyone to root for her, everyone is pretty terrible. But there are some very memorable characters. The Paolo/Charlie plot in particular only becomes increasingly ridiculous in a way that I really truly enjoyed. The Katie plot didn't work nearly so well for me because, well, none of it made any sense at all. (One TV appearance is not going to give you the financial freedom to check into the Four Seasons, and Katie's employer feels more like a late 00's story than a 2019 one with an extremely different media landscape.)

I did have my qualms but the book kept surprising me, and I have to admit, that the best way to keep me reading is to surprise me. It doesn't happen as much as you'd think.

The author is a three-writer pseudonym and I really couldn't tell, it has a distinctive voice and doesn't feel like it's been through a factory or anything.

[Lydia Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

S. E. Boyd what a great book. I started reading this book and couldn't put it down until I had finished it. A hilarious, brilliant, cynical and a little sad takedown of the moral vacuum that is celebrity culture. Every story line offers suspense and surprises, and the book's deadpan humor is unremitting. This frequently brilliant debut novel is a hilarious spoof of monetization mania and foodie culture. I highly recommend.

[Jonathan K (Max Outlier) · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book isn't worth reviewing so I won't bore my GR friends with the plot, characters or details. Written by three morons using a pen name it lacks depth, humor and what any good publisher would call a story.

[Risé · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started out okay, ended meh. The characters became nauseating as the book progressed. What started as a potentially good story ended up becoming a disappointment.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a huge Anthony Bourdain fan, my initial reaction to the premise of this book was outrage - how dare they publish some ripped-from-the-headlines novel based on his tragic death! However, Boyd (actually the pen name of three co-authors) wrote a hilarious satire focused on the depravity of the press, the ridiculousness of fame, and the pretentiousness of the high end restaurant world. The characters are insane and the plot is wild, but you know they are probably just slightly exaggerated versions of real people and events. Perfect for fans of Hollywood tell-alls or those who love to hate celebrity culture.

[Devin Prichard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m rating this book 5 stars because I loved it but I will not be recommending it to anyone because it’s MINE

[rachael — · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 people wrote this which is more shocking to me than this book opening! lol

[Betsy Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun, satirical caper. Author S. E. Boyd is a pseudonym for (per the About the Author section) “veteran journalists Kevin Alexander and Joe Keohane, and editor Allessandra Lusardi. All lightly damaged Catholics prone to extensive overanalysis.”

I picked up this book after learning it is a finalist for the Thurber award for humor. It is satire, but there’s not much laugh-out-loud humor. What there is is plot-plot-plot, tight writing, compelling characters, and lots of twists as our crazy fame-driven culture of lies and deception unspools, through a tale of food and chefs, from Belfast to New York City to Las Vegas to Boston suburbs. Here’s an example:

Websites aggregating other websites was a form of inbreeding and usually yielded the same result: a newborn truth with one foot, no brain, and a hand growing out of its cheek. But they could be made useful. (33)

I’ve worked on magazine staffs and working in the requisite collaboration as a writer and editor, in my experience, can make your structure muscles Olympian. So I really enjoyed watching these writers, whose backgrounds I understand, work their chops. I imagine they must have plotted the whole book, divided up sections to write, and maybe amalgamated the whole thing into a cohesive voice through editing. Which brings me to another quote:

People seemed to think that no one enjoyed food more than chefs, but that was a fucking lie. In fact, it was much harder for chefs to enjoy other chefs’ great dishes. There was too much to think about. It was like comedians watching other comedians on stage. You don’t enjoy the jokes. Especially the ones that kill. You see them as a puzzle to be solved. (221)

Perhaps this is behind the fact that I really enjoyed this international caper, but I didn’t laugh much.

[Henry LD]

I was drawn to the premise (celebrity chef death sparks insane consequences), and I think it’s an interesting look at modern fame and its light-speed pace. Surely, a lot of exciting things happen with many varied characters. But (and with the understanding that a book marketing itself as “funny” is setting a high bar and is probably differently funny from Jane Austen) I didn’t always find the scattered crude humor or scenes super to my taste; and the character arcs somewhat disappointed me (1 character does make a meaningful change in their outlook/life, 2 characters are basically just crazy and unredeemable I guess, and then a slew of others to whom the story just kinda happens). I can maybe understand that this book is just sort of cynical/satirical about modern life/fame and so these aspects contribute to that viewpoint. I’m just not sure that’s the only thing I’m looking for from the books I read.

[vibha · Rating 4 out of 5]

i found a signed copy of this in a free little library addressed to the author’s family? i really enjoyed this though and it even made me laugh out loud a few times which is very rare for me. it was a perfect book until legit the last ten pages where they are randomly doing a food show in israel and i don’t understand how the 3 characters got together to be there in the first place. other than that: i had a fab time because this is very adjacent to my favorite genre which is food memoir.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was wild and I loved it. The descriptions of settings and characters were singular and specific, bizarre and funny.

[Basic B's Guide · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an odd book but I dig it! A fun collaboration from 3 writers with interesting backgrounds.

This satirical novel gives us a glimpse into the ridiculousness that comes out after a celebrity death. It pokes fun at Hollywood and the restaurant world.

Very unlike anything I’ve read this year. Kudos for that!

3.75 stars

[Mike · Rating 1 out of 5]

This novel by the collective author S.E. Boyd is easily the worst book of 89 I read in 2022. I have lost count of the number of novels blurbed to be "hilarious," "a laugh on every page," or "gut-busting" that turn out to be witless and humorless. The issue is almost always that the characters have not been developed sufficiently to make any humor attached to them believable. Instead, there are absurd generic gags that don't match the characterizations (which, as I said, are thin at best anyway). The plot is beyond stupid, and as I flipped the pages I wondered what was going on: Why was this published? Then in the acknowledgments the authors gave the game away! They thanked someone for securing the television rights. This was a purely commercial venture from the start, surely the worst possible way to write a novel (Faulkner and Sanctuary excepted, if you believe him).

[Gisele · Rating 4 out of 5]

extremely well written but not pretentious, farfetched plot but hilarious throughout. i couldn’t put this book down and i actually laughed out loud at the opening of one of the chapters and to me i know that’s the sign of a good one. i loved the way this book was written - learning about these wild characters chapter by chapter and each story bleeding into the next. this book was extravagant in all the best ways, and the manor in which the lavish lives of hollywoods “semi” elite were described was intoxicating. the only issue i have is that the ending was a little weak in contrast to the rest, but it still did not overshadow the fact that I loved this book. this weird weird book.

[josie · Rating 3 out of 5]

really spiky satire on the emptiness of foodie culture and the commodification in some parts but really all over the place. so on-the-nose about bourdain that i felt a little gross consuming it but maybe that���s the point

[Ava · Rating 4 out of 5]

it took me a while to read but I really liked it nonetheless! the satire was laugh out loud funny at times and I appreciated how it showed the absurdities of Hollywood so perfectly.

[J. Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely wild satire.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was so fun and funny. Charlie’s pov was just such an excellent delusional narrative and I loved picturing all of this. so many little details and comic asides and also Belfast. I love a funny book!

[Manu Rao · Rating 4 out of 5]

i thought this was a murder mystery. it was not. but way more fun! laugh out loud funny throughout (i got looks on the muni), unexpected every bit of the way, and a slightly lacking end made for a good ride

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an actual physical arc from a goodreads giveaway! I missed the notification that I'd won, so I was delighted to have this turn up on my doorstep unannounced.

The novel follows a medium sized cast of characters as they variously react to the death of John Doe, the host of a food tv show. Nia and Paolo were my favorites, but Charlie and Katie were both fascinating! And that's all I'll say about the plot because I don't want to spoil anything.

The novel was initially a little hard to get into because each chapter follows a different character, so the first section felt like I was starting a new novel every chapter, however, it REALLY picked up once I got into the second section. Did I intend to finish the novel in one sitting last night after dinner? No. Did I intend to stay up until three thirty? Also, no. But once the novel was in full swing, I could only put it down long to tell my roommate the plot during tea breaks. (First thing this morning I had to report how it ended). It actually made me laugh aloud a handful of times, and snicker silently a few more, and at various points I was on tenterhooks and so fully invested that I lost track of my surroundings and the time. Overall, this was a lot of fun to read, and I'd highly recommend it!

Side note: why don't more writers work collaboratively? This was excellent! I'll happily read anything else the trio that is S.E. Boyd writes!

[Brielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

my first book of 2023 was okay.

it is witty and heartfelt but just maybe the theme its centering to is not in my best interest. this book sorts of reminds me of poison for breakfast by lemony snicket and not sure if i mean it in a good or bad way.

[Kemp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sort of strange, sort of fun. The combination of character development, embellishment of stereotypes, and narration all made this a delight to my ears – bringing forth chuckles and smirks as I found alignment with the authors’ writing. The first section introduces us to the characters and, man, Boyd (et all) nailed them. There is the down on his luck Irish man with his love of alcohol and a good time, the public relations executive weave narrations and molding stories, the chef with his nuances, and the social media influencers weave fact and fiction in pursuit of likes.

It’s a pseudo comedic mystery wrapped in NYC’s punk rock era. The mediocre band names and band’s song names are a riot. I don’t know much about either so I probably missed many of the jokes.

The book does layout that one should be careful what one wants as acquiring it may show you really didn’t want it. But mostly the joy I took from the book was how the narrator and writers each nailed every character with their accents and nuances.

I wish there was a way to note how, or why, a book was added to our TBR lists. Sometimes it takes a while before I get around to reading one and I can’t remember why I picked it. Was it someone’s Goodread review and I should circle back to credit them? Or, was it referenced in the footnotes or acknowledgement section of another book I read? I’m only complaining about my memory…certainly not this book.

A solid three star read. I really liked it and a higher rating is likely if I knew NYC or punk rock.

[Christian Boyd Neumann · Rating 3 out of 5]

solid 3.5 stars!!! at first it was hard keeping all the characters straight but as the story goes you are able to get it. the satire was hilarious & the characters were chaotic. i like the storyline of the restaurant industry & famous chefs & all the drama that comes with it.
i liked being able to discriminate between the 3 writers, their chapters were all different but the story still flowed nonetheless.

[Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of this book until a friend recommended it to me but it was a delight! Told from multiple POV, it has a quick pace which I always love in a book. I liked how we got to get in everyone’s heads and see what their motivations and thoughts were during this insane story. It was really fun and witty and I really enjoyed it!

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

what a wild romp! and also what the heck happened in this book? crazy characters -- Charlie maybe the best demonic mobster esque shiester or just a friendly idiot that didn't know he was blackmailing anyone? John Doe the main character you learn about just through other people but like what the heck happened in the hotel room?? Loved Paolo Cabrini and his restaurant with the speak easy with the speak easy inside that. And Katie! omg what a character who thinks up someone that insane? What a fun read.

[Crust Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

insane, jaw-dropping, hilarious, amazing

[Nickolas Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an odd but fun read. A punchy satire on the food and fame culture, I found its cunning and sharp whit had me blazing through the book wanting to know what was next. A story where you root for no one and are surprised by everyone.

[Linnea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so FUNNY, so well written, so many clear voices, so unexpected, so different. No particular genre, no particular story, more about the interactions with each of the characters. Wow I wish I were still reading this!

[Monica George · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a blast.

[Russell Cole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and not sad