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A review by chinchirah
Sugarbread by Balli Kaur Jaswal
4.0
"Everybody wants to prove they are right all along, even if the whole world says they're not."
"...this was the only way Ma knew how to speak to the world. When she said anything else, nobody listened. Her stories and her feelings and her intentions had to be conveyed through spices and recipes, sauces, oils and meats."
Sugarbread follows the story of 10-year-old Sikh girl Parveen 'Pin' Kaur in 1990s Singapore, as she grapples with growing up in the multicultural city-state and uncovering the secrets kept from her by her mother's family. The book flips back and forth between Pin's perspective and the perspective of her mother in the 1960s.
Balli Kaur Jaswal's writing in this novel is accessible but still manages to capture topics such as ethnicity, religion, and socioeconomic status in an engaging way. Pin attends a prestigious Christian girls' school and is best friends with a Malay Muslim girl, but faces no shortage of casual racism and microaggressions from her classmates to the Bus Uncle she sees everyday.
Even though I'm from Malaysia and not Singapore, Pin's poignant portrayal and descriptions of Singapore and the food she eats (either cooked by her Ma or bought by her Daddy from a hawker stall) are still extremely nostalgic to me as the two neighbouring countries have so much in common.
The "coming-of-age story fueled by unravelling family secrets/trauma" may be a typical and predictable one but it was still touching and executed well enough that I wanted to finish it. I think I'll also miss Pin, Ma, and Daddy for a long time too.
For those who are not familiar with the unique melting pot of people that make up the country, this is an insightful depiction of the minority experience in Singapore.
"...this was the only way Ma knew how to speak to the world. When she said anything else, nobody listened. Her stories and her feelings and her intentions had to be conveyed through spices and recipes, sauces, oils and meats."
Sugarbread follows the story of 10-year-old Sikh girl Parveen 'Pin' Kaur in 1990s Singapore, as she grapples with growing up in the multicultural city-state and uncovering the secrets kept from her by her mother's family. The book flips back and forth between Pin's perspective and the perspective of her mother in the 1960s.
Balli Kaur Jaswal's writing in this novel is accessible but still manages to capture topics such as ethnicity, religion, and socioeconomic status in an engaging way. Pin attends a prestigious Christian girls' school and is best friends with a Malay Muslim girl, but faces no shortage of casual racism and microaggressions from her classmates to the Bus Uncle she sees everyday.
Even though I'm from Malaysia and not Singapore, Pin's poignant portrayal and descriptions of Singapore and the food she eats (either cooked by her Ma or bought by her Daddy from a hawker stall) are still extremely nostalgic to me as the two neighbouring countries have so much in common.
The "coming-of-age story fueled by unravelling family secrets/trauma" may be a typical and predictable one but it was still touching and executed well enough that I wanted to finish it. I think I'll also miss Pin, Ma, and Daddy for a long time too.
For those who are not familiar with the unique melting pot of people that make up the country, this is an insightful depiction of the minority experience in Singapore.