The Lemon

A Novel

By: S. E. Boyd

Narrated by: Ari Fliakos

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.

©2022 S. E. Boyd (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"“[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)

“Boyd forcefully skewers what they refer to as the ‘Celebrity-Death Industrial Complex’ with spit-take-level humor.”—The Washington Post

“[An] acid, knife-edged satire on food-world mores and the vagaries of modern fame.”—Entertainment Weekly, Best New Books of Fall 2022

Lots of fun 🤩

Great narration and a funny, sarcastic spoof of celebrity chef culture. It’s also an homage to the late, great Anthony Bourdain. A fun and funny listen.😀

Hilariously sarcastic

I loved it. Great performance on Audible. I laughed out loud often. I highly recommend it.

It almost needs another 50 pages

The Lemon fills a small piece of the massive Anthony Bourdain chef-obsessed hole our society has.
While not a deep dive into the culture of kitchens in the culinary world, as a chef-written memoir would be, it offers enough of the passion they possess to really help shape their character and build the other side of them that we don't get glimpses of very often.

This was a really fun book to listen to. The audio performance was well done, though I wish the oration of the female characters was a little more thoughtfully produced.
I was immediately hooked and the author's ability to interlock each person's story slightly resembles the writing of Fredrik Backman in this way.
I'd recommend this book to anyone needing a quick escape or something to easily pickup and put down between tasks. My one complaint, is that this book could have easily been twice as long and could have avoided a very abrupt ending.

Funny — but badly ended

We enjoyed this for most of the book, until the abrupt ending. It seemed like the writers had something else to do, so they wrapped it up quickly. Very unsatisfying!`

Cynicism

I hate book endings that are supposed to be clever and leave the audience hanging.

Worth a listen!

I will admit that when I initially got this book, I tried to get a refund. I couldn’t because I had let it sit in my library too long. Instead of archiving it, I took another listen and I am so glad that I did! It’s a fun, masterfully read ride with a great ensemble of characters. I highly recommend for anyone who considers themselves a “coastal elite,” a fan of The Bear, or just interested in the food/ restaurant world.

Loved it!

Favorite narrator. Interesting and compelling story. Clever and funny. Highly recommend this audible version of the novel!!

some fun perfectly narrated

This book was different. Being a big fan of Ari Fliakos I had to give it a listen, and I am glad I did. There was enough humor and fun enough characters to keep me entertained even though I know nothing of the foodie world. I have to agree with some other reviewers that I was a little disappointed but the ending. I often hold judgement and wait to recommend a book to friends until I have finished just because an ending can make or break a novel, this ending didn't go as far as break it, but I think I will temper my recommending it because of it, if that makes sense.

Best book in years

This book harkens back to a time when humerus books were actually clever. And funny. And said something.

Smart, laugh out loud funny and best narration ever.

I loved this book! So clever, well-structured and hilarious with each major character strong enough to support an entire novel each. The narration is next level with award-winning work done on each of the disparate players. Listen to this extraordinary work.