Burnt Sugar

Tara. For her debut novel titled, Burnt Sugar, Avni Doshi selected an examination of one of those most challenging motifs in fiction and in life: the mother-daughter relationship. Could any writer have a new perspective on this relationship? We have the impression of Tara as a free spirit who left her husband to join an ashram, where she placed her daughter, Antara, in the care of Kali Mata, an American devotee. Both Tara and Antara remember the past in different ways, learning the subjectivity of truth and the porousness of identity. The powerful emotions Doshi presents are delivered with finely crafted prose and insight into human behavior. We ache with Antara at her mother’s selfishness and instability and smile with her as Tara suffers. Doshi handles anxiety and rage with a perspective that perhaps does add new dimensions to a relationship about which millions of pages have already been written. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase Burnt Sugar from amazon.com.