Scan barcode
poojagodh's review against another edition
3.5
Took me a while to get into it. It was written well and flowed but at times I found the plot too slow. I also just didn't connect with the characters.
tomleetang's review
4.0
"I would be lying if I said my mother's misery has never given me pleasure." That's a fiery first line if ever I read one!
This is an incredibly focused novel that must have required an exhausting effort of restraint to write. Compare the style to, say, Salman Rushdie's [b:Quichotte|43811212|Quichotte|Salman Rushdie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1563963578l/43811212._SY75_.jpg|68172855], which I recently read and indulges the author's penchant for enjoyable but extravagant flights of fancy. It's the exact opposite approach taken by Avni Doshi in Burnt Sugar, which has one interest and one interest only: the fractious bond between the narrator, Antara, and her mother, Tara. Every action, every theme, every description is informed by this relationship. The single-minded plot is reflected in the solipsism of Antara, who seems entombed in herself, making it difficult for her to give the reader unbiased perceptions of those around her - we are, in fact, reminded every once in a while about the unreliability of Antara and her construction of the world.
The neatly constructed narrative loops around itself, alternately detailed the increasing signs of dementia in Tara and travelling back to Antara's childhood, which she remembers as consisting of her mother Tara's neglect, casual cruelty and selfish pursuit of happiness.
Antara does not unreservedly despise and hate her mother, that would be too easy, too simply; she is pulled in different directions by resentment and a sense of duty; by an awareness that her mother has treated her cruelly, but also that her mother still showed more attachment to her than her absent father.
One of the things that really struck me was how Burnt Sugar confronts the way that parents, and in particular mothers, are discouraged from admitting the fact that having a child and caring for a child is an act of abnegation. I'm also reading [b:The Feminine Mystique|17573685|The Feminine Mystique|Betty Friedan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1377019820l/17573685._SX50_.jpg|809732] at the moment, and Betty Friedan's research that revealed how women often felt unable to confess that motherhood and being a wife were not complete fulfilment, that many women desired more than these conjoined roles, feels as relevant today as it did when Friedan wrote the book in the 60s. I bring this up because Burnt Sugar is in a tradition of books - including fellow 2020 Booker shortlisted [b:The New Wilderness|48836769|The New Wilderness|Diane Cook|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1597017220l/48836769._SY75_.jpg|67686772] - which address the difficulty of balancing a search for selfhood and the sacrifices inherent in motherhood. It would be nice to think of these two things as inherently connect; in reality, that's not necessarily the case.
As I was reading this, Philip Larkin's 'This Be the Verse' recurred upon me every few pages, with its pronouncements that "they f*ck you up your mum and dad" and that "man passes on misery to man." I was also reminded of [b:Hideous Kinky|283786|Hideous Kinky|Esther Freud|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1437975005l/283786._SX50_.jpg|1147568], a much more cheerful but also insightful story about a daughter whose mother struggles with simultaneously raising herself and raising a child.
This is an incredibly focused novel that must have required an exhausting effort of restraint to write. Compare the style to, say, Salman Rushdie's [b:Quichotte|43811212|Quichotte|Salman Rushdie|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1563963578l/43811212._SY75_.jpg|68172855], which I recently read and indulges the author's penchant for enjoyable but extravagant flights of fancy. It's the exact opposite approach taken by Avni Doshi in Burnt Sugar, which has one interest and one interest only: the fractious bond between the narrator, Antara, and her mother, Tara. Every action, every theme, every description is informed by this relationship. The single-minded plot is reflected in the solipsism of Antara, who seems entombed in herself, making it difficult for her to give the reader unbiased perceptions of those around her - we are, in fact, reminded every once in a while about the unreliability of Antara and her construction of the world.
The neatly constructed narrative loops around itself, alternately detailed the increasing signs of dementia in Tara and travelling back to Antara's childhood, which she remembers as consisting of her mother Tara's neglect, casual cruelty and selfish pursuit of happiness.
Spoiler
When Antara becomes pregnant, however, she's forced to confront her own feelings of being chained down by an infant, retrospectively informing how the reader views Tara's shortcomings as a mother.Antara does not unreservedly despise and hate her mother, that would be too easy, too simply; she is pulled in different directions by resentment and a sense of duty; by an awareness that her mother has treated her cruelly, but also that her mother still showed more attachment to her than her absent father.
One of the things that really struck me was how Burnt Sugar confronts the way that parents, and in particular mothers, are discouraged from admitting the fact that having a child and caring for a child is an act of abnegation. I'm also reading [b:The Feminine Mystique|17573685|The Feminine Mystique|Betty Friedan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1377019820l/17573685._SX50_.jpg|809732] at the moment, and Betty Friedan's research that revealed how women often felt unable to confess that motherhood and being a wife were not complete fulfilment, that many women desired more than these conjoined roles, feels as relevant today as it did when Friedan wrote the book in the 60s. I bring this up because Burnt Sugar is in a tradition of books - including fellow 2020 Booker shortlisted [b:The New Wilderness|48836769|The New Wilderness|Diane Cook|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1597017220l/48836769._SY75_.jpg|67686772] - which address the difficulty of balancing a search for selfhood and the sacrifices inherent in motherhood. It would be nice to think of these two things as inherently connect; in reality, that's not necessarily the case.
As I was reading this, Philip Larkin's 'This Be the Verse' recurred upon me every few pages, with its pronouncements that "they f*ck you up your mum and dad" and that "man passes on misery to man." I was also reminded of [b:Hideous Kinky|283786|Hideous Kinky|Esther Freud|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1437975005l/283786._SX50_.jpg|1147568], a much more cheerful but also insightful story about a daughter whose mother struggles with simultaneously raising herself and raising a child.
miss_amzzz's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
kirstycreads's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
vassa's review against another edition
4.0
It's a very raw book that I felt connected to on a very personal level. My life cannot be more different from the main character's one, but her opinions, her thoughts and her troubles seem too familiar.
sydsnot71's review against another edition
2.0
I'm not sure if I liked this book or not. It is certainly well-crafted, but I couldn't get as emotionally attached to it as I would have wanted. Perhaps that is intentional, there is something emotionally distanced in Antara, the narrator which seems to have come out of her experiences as a child.
The book is set in Pune, India. Antara's mother has dementia and through the course of the book is getting progressively lost. She doesn't speak to her father often. She is married to Dilip, whose Indian parents moved to America, where he has lived his whole life until he came to Pune for work. The book tells Antara's story through her mother's failing mental health. It is told through flashbacks and you have to admire Avni Doshi's control of the story. It manages to twist and turn through events and time without losing a coherent sense of where the story is going.
In the end, it wasn't a book I loved. I enjoyed it. I never wanted to stop reading it but I couldn't get swallowed up by it. That, as usual, might be me. But you can't love everything.
The book is set in Pune, India. Antara's mother has dementia and through the course of the book is getting progressively lost. She doesn't speak to her father often. She is married to Dilip, whose Indian parents moved to America, where he has lived his whole life until he came to Pune for work. The book tells Antara's story through her mother's failing mental health. It is told through flashbacks and you have to admire Avni Doshi's control of the story. It manages to twist and turn through events and time without losing a coherent sense of where the story is going.
In the end, it wasn't a book I loved. I enjoyed it. I never wanted to stop reading it but I couldn't get swallowed up by it. That, as usual, might be me. But you can't love everything.
snigdha1's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
collie98's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
ensara's review
1.0
yeaaa no forget booker prize. started off solid, i love a familial-mother-daughter exploitation story, BUT THIS BECAME AWFUUUUUUL. let me leave it at that ✋✋✋
islaofkiki's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75