• The favorite readings, it is shared.

  • Our community recommends a new book every day.

  • Today, “Sucre amer” by Avni Doshi, published on January 5, 2022 by Éditions Globe.

Julie "Musemanias Books", blogger and contributor to the 20 Minutes

Books reading group

, recommends Avni Doshi's

Bitter Sugar

 , published on January 5, 2022 by Éditions Globe.


His favorite quote:

“If our conversations were itineraries, they would show us that we always come back to this cul-de-sac, this void from which we are unable to escape.

»


Why this book?

  • Because Avni Doshi chose a difficult topic for his first book:

    Alzheimer's disease.

    The author approaches it from the angle of the disease of a mother who, over the days, has a fading memory and for whom her daughter, Antara, bends over backwards to help her keep her memories.

    While one loses hers, those of her daughter only rise to the surface.

  • Because dealing with the, oh so, difficult mother-daughter relationship

    at its most inextricable, we can only attach ourselves to the character of Antara.

    Despite everything, two-thirds of the way through the book, the author gives us a subtle detail that makes us reconsider some of our positions.

  • Because this book was a finalist for the Booker Prize 2020.

    Not falling into the easy way, this novel on the strength of memory marks the start of the winter literary season with a lot of elegance and emotion.


The essentials in 2 minutes

The plot.

 Antara's life was a series of abandonments by Ma, this mother who never respected her, who never showed her tenderness, who ultimately never played her role as a mother.

But also by Pa, this father, totally overwhelmed by the rantings of his wife.

Characters.

 Ma, cantankerous and selfish mother, whose first signs of Alzheimer's disease appear and Antara, her daughter, now a thirty-something artist who never stops trying to find accommodations for this mother who has never been tender towards her.

Places.

 In India.

The time.

 Contemporary.

The author.

 Avni Doshi is American and born in 1982. A curator and art critic, she specializes in contemporary art from South Asia.

She now lives in Dubai.

Her first novel,

Sucre amer

 has been translated in 22 countries and is a finalist for the 2020 Booker Prize.

This book was read with

 fascination for the way the author describes the emotions and revives the memories of her heroine Antara.

This first novel delves deeply into family places and what is sometimes darker in them.

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  • Alzheimer's

  • India

  • Novel

  • Book sheet 20 Minutes

  • Books

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