Welcome to Litsy!

i love how many of the goodreads reviews are like “I hated this, it was gross” it was gross. But being a person is gross!

Epigraph just knocked the wind out me

Why isn‘t anyone more disturbed by this 50-some with dementia?!? I get the themes she‘s going for with the antagonism between mother and daughter and the idea of feeling erased as a woman but gees…this one is weird.

Antara‘s mother ran away with her to an ashram where she became involved with the leader. Antara blames her mother for the shaky life they had throughout her childhood. When mom gets dementia, Antara feels erased.

This was a troubling story of a woman managing her mother's rapidly deteriorating mental heath through what appears to be dementia. Set in India, the narrator remembers her mother as an erratic parent who drifted from marriage into a cult where both parent and child are vulnerable. Touching on mothers and daughters, marriage, individual perception of memory loss, and responsibility, it was not an easy read but worth the effort.

2 out of 5!

Burnt Sugar was book #50 for 2022. It's a big deal to me to finally meet my 50 books in a year goal, which I've had for about 15 yrs. I usually fall short somewhere in the 40s. I can't believe I met my goal two months early! I used to feel bad that I didn't read more books in a year, but I've gotten over that as I've gotten older. I'm grateful for the things that are taking up my time and keeping me from reading.

This was a low pick for me because I felt disinterested in the middle. I pushed through because this was my #bookspin #doublespin and I'm glad I did. The second half was great. I read this alongside Atomic Anna, which also dealt with grandmother-mother-daughter relationships. That added another layer I wasn't counting on.

A story of the fraught relationship between mother and daughter. Appropriate for Mother‘s Day.

I've been so deep in a couple things for several months now, that I've gotten way behind on sharing my reads.

This was a surprising one for me. I usually shy away from books that make the Booker lists, but I found this one very readable. I actually can't believe so many people gave this bad reviews. I could see myself rereading this, which is unusual for me! Interesting characters, nice writing, and not too long.

This book wasn't for me as I find it hard when I don't find any redeeming qualities in the characters. At first I didn't like the mom and felt bad for the daughter and her husband, but by the end I didn't care for the actions of any of them.

“Reality is something that is co-authored, the woman says. It makes sense that you would begin to find this disturbing. When someone says that something is not what you think of it as, it can cause slight tremors in the brain, variations in brain activity, and subconscious doubts begin to emerge. Why do you think people experience spiritual awakenings? It‘s because the people around us are engaged”.

Thought about saying “so-so” to this but I gotta call em as I see em and this is a pan! I should have (and started to) DNF this at 55% but then I read a review that said the 2nd half is better than the 1st. Nope, not for me and I‘m not exactly sure why. I do appreciate mother-daughter relationships and complicated family dynamics which this promised to deliver on. Somehow it all just felt pointless and I felt disconnected. But the cover is great!

So disappointed that I didn‘t enjoy this after having been intrigued by an interview with the author. I found the writing impenetrable and it brought back all my fears of #booksthatwinprizes! That said it was really good to discuss it in our book group; so interesting to get other takes on the same book which really makes me think beyond my initial “I don‘t like it” reaction - half of us enjoyed it, the other half disliked!

Such a strange, disturbing book. Almost as though the daughter and mother became interchangeable. Sad look at cognitive impairment, but also the extreme pain parents can inflict on children.

This book was at its best when focusing on the strained relationship between Antara and her mother. Whenever the story strayed from them, either in past or present, my interest started to wane. Many of the characters were unlikable which I can be okay with if the plot itself has me hooked which this one didn‘t unfortunately. The writing itself was beautiful so I would be willing to give this author another chance in the future.

Next up! This is my #bookspin this month. I adore this cover! As someone who‘s had a complicated relationship with my own mother in the past, I‘m ready for the attack on my feels.

This book has been really popular but I‘m afraid I found this book mainly boring and depressing, even self indulgent at times. The mc is so unlikable that I found myself not really caring about her and after reading I felt there was not much purpose to the book

I just know this will be in the running for my best read this year. Every page has a phrase, a paragraph, or a description I want to highlight. Beautiful, beautiful writing!

A simple, hurriedly discovered line about her mother who is suspected of having Alzheimer‘s:

“Her head is still, but her thoughts run through the past few days in circles, the loop continuing to be unrecognizable with each pass”

So much sentence-level skill here, tho sometimes feels for show.

P29 “In the sitting room, a large grandfather clock spits out a bird and a German nursery rhyme on the hour.”

P30 Absent father who just wants to “make calls” rather than help. ‘It‘s a shame,‘ he continues. ‘I would like to be involved. But none of this was my idea.‘

P36 “Dilip believes a single thought mirrors an entire landscape of the mind. He says it must be tiring to be me.”

"I would be lying if I said my mother's misery has never given me pleasure.” What to do when the monster weakens? Mother Tara has a penchant for cruelty. Alzheimer‘s makes her vulnerable, needing care. Daughter Antara faces own intense questioning of roles, family, identity. ? a caustic MC ready to fight me, but Antara feels so stuck. Suppose that‘s the point: circularity, generational patterns. But impenetrable stubbornness kills interest. 2021

I managed to read the books above from the #womensprizeforfiction. I was underwhelmed by The Vanishing Half and Luster, liked Burnt Sugar and loved Piranesi, Transcedent Kingdom and No One is Talking About This. I‘m in the middle of Nothing But Blue Sky and enjoying that one too.

I read too few to dare make a prediction but I am looking forward to the announcement of the shortlist tomorrow.

This is longlisted for the Women's Price for Fiction and it was a great read. A difficult mother and daughter relationship, Tara was quite wild when she was younger and now has possibly alzheimer's. Now her daughter Antara has to look after her. She feels resentful as her mother didn't look after her so well. It goes back in the past and we see how she was brought up. The situation is a difficult one. I felt sorry for Antara not easy to handle.

"I would be lying if I said my mother's misery has never given me pleasure."
You can gauge from the opening line whether you're likely to enjoy this book. I've rated it a pick because it's done well, but I didn't actually like it. I'll happily root for an ambivalent or even unlikeable MC or anti-hero but AD's characters are just so unsympathetic that, ultimately, it was hard to give a damn.

I have been known to tire of those plotless sentence-level incisive devastating-secret devi novels. But I really enjoyed this mother-daughter story - Tara and Antara. It kept me interested as mom is suffering progressive dementia, yet knowns dangerous dark secrets about Antara. And Antara, our narrator, gets a little anxious.

This debut novel by American born Doshi takes place in Pune, India, and is on the 2020 Booker longlist. Recommended.

Nope. Did not like this.
I liked the start, the way we found out about her mother's ashram days, the suffering of all.
But I couldn't get into the second half or so, the more current time. I don't think I liked or empathised with any of the characters.

So one of my reading groups had to pick between this book and another. The other one won. But then this appeared on the library app so I get to read it anyway 😄😄.
Continuing my unplanned mother daughter relationships theme...
👩‍👧👩‍👧😊

I gave it a pass last year after seeing some lackluster reviews, but I‘m glad that the Women‘s Prize put this back on my radar. It‘s a complicated Mother/Daughter relationship, that mostly unfolds as the Mother is losing her memory (possibly voluntarily) and the daughter is becoming a wife and mother herself. If you are someone who needs likable characters, this won‘t be for you, but I found their dynamic compelling.

Women‘s Prize 6/16

This is somewhere between a pick and a so so for me. The author did a thorough job of exploring how women are erased: by their bodies, by their families, by their relationships. I liked the #audiobook narrator. There were some images: Antara‘s daily art project, for example, that will stay with me for a long time. I‘m still not sure the book hung together as a story though.

I started this today, in Philadelphia where I‘m visiting my mother who suffers from a progressive dementia... and it opens with a narrator dealing with her own mother‘s mental dissolution in Pune, India. I was immediately involved in it. Also I‘m a sucker for a good reader (here Sneha Mathan).

It took me a bit to get into this audiobook. I couldn‘t decide how reliable the narrator was meant to be. Now I‘m intrigued...

I got these 3 from the library and they are all on the longlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction. I have started Burnt Sugar already.

1. The Wild Silence by Raynor Winn and Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi
2. Hardcover
3. Olive by Emma Gannon

@rachelsbrittain #WEEKENDREADS

The Women‘s Prize for Fiction 2021 - The Longlist. These all sound so good. 👍

#BookHaul from Barnes and Noble last night. Had a gift card. So excited for these. They‘ve all been on my radar for a while ♥️

An aged mother is losing her mind and memories. A daughter, haunted by the past, burdened with years of unresolved emotions. It‘s an intense story about the complexities of a mother-daughter relationship; of memories; which is upsetting to read at times, heartbreaking, and brutal. Switching between present day and past, it‘s a slow burner of a book with writing that captivates me and made it to my favourites list.

Dark, unsettling, constant sense of unease. Is Antara a reliable narrator or not? Definitely during her post partum depression. Those feelings are very real and palpable. Classism, gender, career, motherhood, family, marriage, parenting. Kudos to Doshi for this dark and creepy novel. She packed a lot of atmosphere into a relatively short book. Not sure I liked it, but it was impactful and very well done.

A prickly, unsettling story about love and hatred between a mother and daughter in contemporary India. The making of art, the unmaking of mental illness. Buried secrets.
The #audiobook narrated by Vineeta Rishi kept me riveted.

I told her that staying doesn‘t have the appeal, the mystery, of escape. To stay is to be staid, to be resigned, to believe this is all there will ever be. Aren‘t we creatures made for searching, investigation, dominion? Aren‘t we built to believe there can always be something better?

#audiocrafting today with potato printing

Today is just slogging around and reading, which is my favorite holiday tradition. This is also my #SelfieScavangerHunt pic for socks, favorite reading spot by the cozy fire, and by christmas lights with my fave holiday drink (sparkling wine) and fave gift of 2020! +121 for #TeamReadNosedReindeer

I don‘t know what I expected from this, but I was pleasantly surprised! In a delicate, but unflinching way, Doshi tells the story of a mother-daughter relationship that is filled with displeasure, longing for something different, jealousy and fear. I felt the book was strongest, when the focus was on the relationship between mother and daughter, but the throw backs through Antara‘s and Tara‘s lives where interesting, too.

#SetInIndia #Booked2020

I couldn‘t connect to this writing as well as the plot. Most of the places I felt the writing is incoherent & the details were frustrating. At few places I felt the repetition of phrases ( e.g description of rickshaws). The story oscillates between past & present, first person narration are the good part. But I am disappointed with the MC Antara. You won‘t feel for her. May beI did not like the character at all it made me irritated. Cont..👇🏻

Stunning writing and a deep dive into a toxic mother/daughter relationship. While some of the scenes and lines were surgically precise, the overall package lacked structure and purpose for me. #ARC #Netgalley

So I‘ve been going through it with my mother this week. I just thought we had finally moved to a good place as far as working together, but I‘m being shutdown, manipulated, and gaslit. It just been a very hard week for me. I started this book (from my #bookspinbingo card), but I just can‘t read about parent/child relationships right now. I just want to thank you all for making this such a safe space. 💖

What a lovely card @squirrelbrain thank you! Sorry work is so tough at the moment... Only 3 more weeks to go *we hope*. I just took advantage of the tagged book being 99p on Kindle so will look forward to it! Finished The New Wilderness yesterday, meh... Xxx

#99ponkindle #ukkindledeal

Seems like a bargain based on all the Litsy love!