Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Burnt Sugar

Burnt Sugar's opening sentence sets the tone perfectly for the rest of the novel: "I would be lying if I said my mother's misery has never given me pleasure." What follows that powerful confession is a brutal, raw take on a deeply toxic mother-daughter relationship. From that first sentence until the last, I found myself repeatedly cringing over Antara's seemingly endless suffering and alienation.

The character-driven nature of this story brings the ramifications of intergenerational trauma and neglect into stark relief. Tara is an irredeemably awful mother. Her intense narcissism rears its ugly head over and over again, forcing Antara to always feel as though she is an extension of her mother instead of her own autonomous person. Thus, when her mother loses her memory Antara loses not only her mother but herself. Doshi beautifully describes their intertwined lives in this book, keeping a very dark story continuously compelling.

If you are a fan of dark character-driven novels and poetic writing, add Burnt Sugar to your list!

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readingthroughinfinity's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Buddy read this with my mum (she read the paperback, I read the audiobook) because she got a copy for Christmas.

Burnt Sugar is about the changing relationship between a mother and daughter over the course of several decades. The book oscillates between the past, with the protagonist, Antara, growing up in an ashram, and the present, where she's trying to take care of her mother, Tara, who has dementia.

The book is incredibly character-driven, with little plot to drive the narrative forward, making the pacing very slow. Antara has a complicated relationship with Tara; at times she despises her mother for things she put her through in her childhood as well as her selfishness and body shaming, but in other moments, she feels a strong bond with her mother and deep love for her. She alternates between wishing her mother was out of her life, and fearing that she'll die soon and Antara will no longer have her in her life.

There were some moments of profound sadness because of Tara's dementia and the book offers up reflections on shared history and forgiveness. But Antara as a character has little personality and nothing that really makes her stand out as a narrator, so I felt apathetic towards her for almost the entire novel.

There are also some strange moments where the narrative wanders off on a tangent to discuss something else (the state of the road or pavement, dying animals) that isn't relevant to the story and doesn't add any deeper meaning. And if you don't like abject descriptions of bodily functions or excrement, then this book isn't for you, because it features a lot of them (again, not always for any particular reason). I also wasn't particularly comfortable with the main character's thoughts about having sexual relations with her estranged father.

I've read books where authors successfully raise difficult, uncomfortable, and often harrowing topics to start discussions on the flaws in our society or condemn certain behaviors. It felt like this book was trying to do that, but was unfortunately unsuccessful in its endeavors. We don't really get any resounding moral messages or satisfying conclusions (where prejudices are challenged) by the end of the novel. Instead the book ends with a strange scene which left me feeling desolate and disquieted.

Content warnings for dementia, fatphobia, body shaming, descriptions of bodily fluids and excrement, physical and emotional abuse, adult/minor relationships, explicit sexual content, gaslighting, religious prejudices, arson.

Content Warnings

jessbasuthakur's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.0

This book broke my brain.
Despite being quite tough to read, there is a lot that I appreciated about this book. The complicated mother/daughter relationship, mental health issues (depression, PPD vs psychosis, PTSD, physical manifestations of trauma, etc), the depiction of an India that is not seen often in books (through the eyes of the rich) while also keeping depictions through poor and middle class eyes, and the biggest thing to me: the effect trauma has on memories. For being such a short book, I think Doshi addressed all these topics quite well and with very strong language.
Nonetheless, this book just wasn't pleasant. I found the depictions of bodily fluids and excreta to be too numerous and didn't provide much to the plot. I also took away a whole star because of a scene in which Antara speaks on having sex with her dad, which was disgusting and added NOTHING to the plot. I appreciate when authors explore the deep, dark, and vile thoughts of humans, but Doshi had too many and I felt like it diluted the effect. Reza's character is introduced in the second half of the book and because he is a pivotal bridge between Tara and Antara, you would expect his part to be deeply discussed, however it was not, and it felt like a missed opportunity. The scene where Antara confronts Tara about his role in her life was anti-climactic considering his role. This book is also VERY dark with not enough light. I think some lightness is necessary in such dark stories to keep it readable, and this book just didn't have enough, and I was glad it was as short as it was because I would've stopped reading if it was much longer.
I was going to DNF this book about half way through and am glad I didn't, as the second half of the book was strong and provided a lot of explanation into the antics of Antara, but I think there was a lot of unnecessary descriptions and darkness that could have been done away with.

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gabriellejane's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I connected to this book as the daughter of a parent who dealt with a manipulative parent until their death. I think it helped me understand a little more what they might have gone through. About the book itself, I love an unreliable narrator and how frustrating the reading experience can be! Not an all-time favorite, but a solid read that I will think about for some time. As with most unreliable stories, I wished the ending had been formed more than where it ended. I don't think the story needed to continue, but just a little more closure would have been great!

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