Burnt Sugar

3.5

FUCK i just wrote a whole review and my dumbass browser deleted it. fuck this i have a work meeting in 3 minutes so

• It's slow in some places, rushed in others, wavered between good pace and bad pace for me
• Dust jacket on the hardcover says this is about dementia and the line between truth and lie and like yes, but also, is it? 
• Was recommended this as a “bad mom bad child” book but I think it's more about faith and art than it is about family and generational trauma, I certainly think it's telling a story about femininity and duty the same way a “bad mom bad child” book does
• I think I liked it but it didn't quite win me over

DNF 67%

This was sitting half finished on my coffee table for 2 months and it literally just could not keep my attention sorry. Just extremely abstract and all of its depth and complexity felt artificial and flat. I did not like a single one of the characters. A lot of people loved this so I don't know what I missed, but it wasn't for me

Visceral, dark and poignant, but less powerful than it ought to be

Burnt Sugar is an uneven story of highs and lows. Truly, I love the premise that explores this idea of a daughter neglected by her mother, now placed in a position of care for her mother. And Avni Doshi does a tremendous job of drawing out the emotions involved in this situation. I really loved the concept, as well as the characters. It is here where this novel thrives.

The story itself meanders far too much, however, growing confusing at times. At its best, the story is quite interesting, wonderfully paced, and gorgeously written. At its worst, it can be a bit of a dry read, incorporating elements and scenes that don't quite gel with the novel's best moments.

(Advanced Reader Copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss.)

DNF– only after DNF'ing around 1/3 of the way through, I find that I'd already read this book 5 years ago and hated it then, too. Very well.

this was a weird read. it was mostly interesting even tho I wasn't that drawn in by the summary. near the end it got weird and out of hand for me, the story went to places I wasn't expecting but saw coming at the same time. honestly all I can think is antara needs some serious therapy, a child is not an answer, a way out. and god the bits about her imagining killing her baby and her family member show how unhinged she became by the end.

also I don't know if I'm stupid for not getting it, but the last page, about her screaming and no one hearing, of her seeing only her own reflection in the mirror was a little confusing. I don't understand where it was cut of from reality and went to whatever that ending was. is that was was in her head? I have no idea.

Tldr; ‘Burnt Sugar' is the worst ‘highly recommended' book I read in 2020. Stay far away.

‘Burnt Sugar' is a mediocre, choppily written (no it isn't ‘crisp') novel that masquerades as a deep dive into the mother-daughter but ends up sacrificing plot, insight, storytelling (and basically every other ingredient) for the banal commitment to ‘caustic humor' that rarely ever lands. Though the book is readable in the first dozen pages, it soon becomes a tiring slog of dislikable characters trashing each other for no apparent reason. Finally, it culminates in a rather unsatisfying ending which made me regret ever-picking up this book. Something is broken in our literary scene when an author for the sake of being ‘subversive' can ramble on about the most jarring aspects of bodily fluids and human waste, without utilizing that rambling for any literary purpose or insight. At various points throughout the story, the author integrates a ‘hot topic' as a through-line in the narrative (dementia, post-partum depression, infidelity etc.) and then explores it in the most superficial way possible- mediated by the most obvious stock stereotypes like that of the dislikable ‘Indian-American aunty', the ‘NRI husband' and the ‘crazy hippie'. Nuance is so shockingly non-existent and the narration through these caricatures so impersonal that it impedes actual understanding of the novel. Unless you enjoy reading vulgarity and filth for its own sake- this isn't for you.

In conclusion, ‘Burnt Sugar' represent peak formulaic fiction in the literary genre where zero insights + enough ‘themes' that are ‘important' coming from the ‘right' quarters equal award nominations. Please stay far away