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jillaay_h's review against another edition
challenging
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Dementia, Fatphobia, Medical content, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Grief, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, and Dysphoria
jess_mango's review against another edition
4.0
This was a tough one! Burnt Sugar is about a very dysfunctional mother/daughter relationship. Toxic mother alert!
The story is primary told from the perspective of the daughter, Antara. In 19080's India, her mother Tara, left her marriage and dragged her young daughter along to an ashram to be closer to a guru that she's become infatuated with. As a young child, Antara bore witness to the strange happenings at the ashram. Tara was a neglectful mother who physically and emotionally inured her daughter. They lived on the street for awhile, where Antara came down with scabies. Antara grew up with more than her share of damage. Flash forward a few decades, Antara is an artist living in the States and is married to an Indian-American man. Her mother is suffering from dementia and Antara and her husband return to India to help care for her. There are numerous flashbacks to the 80's and 90's as Antara revisits her childhood and young adult years.
Antara's voice is cold and aloof. She relays her years of emotional pain and her mixed feelings for her mother in a way that didn't warm me up to her. Yes, she was clearly a victim of a lot of childhood trauma but she kept us, the reader at a distance. We can see her internal struggle of how to best take care of a mother who never really took good care of her. Antara's voice in the book is unsentimental in its analysis of this troubled mother/daughter relationship. A harrowing book, without a doubt.
3.5 stars
This novel was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!
The story is primary told from the perspective of the daughter, Antara. In 19080's India, her mother Tara, left her marriage and dragged her young daughter along to an ashram to be closer to a guru that she's become infatuated with. As a young child, Antara bore witness to the strange happenings at the ashram. Tara was a neglectful mother who physically and emotionally inured her daughter. They lived on the street for awhile, where Antara came down with scabies. Antara grew up with more than her share of damage. Flash forward a few decades, Antara is an artist living in the States and is married to an Indian-American man. Her mother is suffering from dementia and Antara and her husband return to India to help care for her. There are numerous flashbacks to the 80's and 90's as Antara revisits her childhood and young adult years.
Antara's voice is cold and aloof. She relays her years of emotional pain and her mixed feelings for her mother in a way that didn't warm me up to her. Yes, she was clearly a victim of a lot of childhood trauma but she kept us, the reader at a distance. We can see her internal struggle of how to best take care of a mother who never really took good care of her. Antara's voice in the book is unsentimental in its analysis of this troubled mother/daughter relationship. A harrowing book, without a doubt.
3.5 stars
This novel was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize.
Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!
kdahlo's review against another edition
4.0
Overall, I liked this book a lot. However, it's structurally unusual and I think it demands some commitment from the reader. The book documents a descent, both psychological and through the layers of the narrator's personal history and secrets with her mother. The initial layers are interesting but more superficial. Gradually this book turns darker, weirder, and less mundane. There were times when I considered bailing out because I thought I knew where the story was going. Luckily, I realized I was wrong, but the author does not foreshadow and hint and tease you. You just have to commit, read the book, and see if you like where it ends up. To me, it felt like a very different book at the beginning compared to the end.
k8k's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Terminal illness, and Sexual assault
calyxconcision's review against another edition
5.0
This book was amazing. The relationship between not only mother and daughter, but between family and individual was extremely well-written. I especially liked the parallels drawn between Tara and Antara where Antara is almost completely like her mother. The ending was perfect in conveying the feeling of it all being inescapable.
trinitymconrad's review against another edition
3.0
“i wonder if performing for the world circulates something vital, if the pressure of an audience around us is what forces the blood to pump. it's easy to unravel when no one is watching."
“sometimes the way we act is determined by equations we fall into over and over again."
“sometimes the way we act is determined by equations we fall into over and over again."
trishadanforth27's review
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
direton1's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-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
desireeslibrary's review against another edition
2.0
I initially picked this up because I am also intrigued by a dicy mother-daughter relationship and Antara definitely has a terrible relationship with her mother. However, that is pretty much the extent of what I liked about the novel, and there was just so much that I honestly hated.
First of all, the shifts in timeline were choppy and overall, the writing was boring. I am usually all for dual timelines, but this just fell so short. Similarly, I am a big fan of unreliable or unlikable narrators, but Antara was so wildly boring and I never found myself warming up to her.
Overall, this was a huge let down.
First of all, the shifts in timeline were choppy and overall, the writing was boring. I am usually all for dual timelines, but this just fell so short. Similarly, I am a big fan of unreliable or unlikable narrators, but Antara was so wildly boring and I never found myself warming up to her.
Overall, this was a huge let down.