Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
Burnt Sugar
- Narrated by: Vineeta Rishi
- Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
99p for the first 3 months
Buy Now for £13.00
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Summary
SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2020: A searing, compulsively readable story of mothers and daughters, memory and madness, love and betrayal
PICKED AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 BY the Guardian, Economist, Spectator and more...
In her youth, Tara was wild. She abandoned her arranged marriage to join an ashram, took a hapless artist for a lover, rebelled against every social expectation of a good Indian woman - all with her young child in tow. Years on, she is an old woman with a fading memory, mixing up her maid's wages and leaving the gas on all night, and her grown-up daughter is faced with the task of caring for a mother who never seemed to care for her.
This is a poisoned love story. But not between lovers - between mother and daughter. Sharp as a blade and laced with caustic wit, Burnt Sugar gradually untangles the knot of memory and myth that bind two women together, revealing the truth that lies beneath.
Critic reviews
"Taut, unsettling, ferocious." (Fatima Bhutto, author of The Runaways)
"Acerbic, full of wit and cool intelligence - every sentence is a coiled spring and each psychological portrait burns itself into the mind. I couldn't put it down." (Olivia Sudjic, author of Exposure and Sympathy)
"Crystalline, surgical, compulsively readable. An examination of toxic relationships and the ties that bind us." (Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti)
What listeners say about Burnt Sugar
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- TheRealMrsB
- 16-09-20
I didn't enjoy it
I struggled to listen to this book but I carried on until the end hoping it would get better. It did not.
Many times I fell asleep and had to go back and listen to chapters again.
I did not feel a connection with any of the characters, including the woman telling the story. The book was about this woman and her mother, but all the other key relationships and events in her life were glossed over. Then the book suddenly ended, with no real climax or conclusion. To be honest this was both a relief and a disappointment.
The narration was OK, but I did have to slow it down a bit as I felt it was slightly too fast at its original speed.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 19-09-20
ok
I couldn't really get into this book I am surprised it is shortlisted for the Booker ,for me there was little in it that was orginal .
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- mr r tomlinson
- 29-08-20
breathtaking
What a beautiful and painful journey . as an Indian women I found it relatable and so poignant. I can't recommend it enough ❤
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- bookylady
- 08-04-21
Disappointing
I’m not sure what to say about this one. It has been nominated for various prestigious book prizes but I cannot fathom why. It is a dull, plodding story about a toxic mother-daughter relationship, toxic marriages, failing careers, alternative lifestyles and the effects of dementia on the sufferer and their carers. It is hard to think of anything positive about this book.
I kept going with the story, even though it was lacklustre and hard to engage with. I nearly gave up but kept hoping that something would happen to grab my attention; it didn’t. My main problem was that every character had fatal character flaws; they were selfish, unreliable, unlikeable with barely a redeeming feature between them.
The narration was not brilliant; the narrator’s voice was a bit too bland, lacking in contrast and variety.
Sorry I couldn’t give it a better review.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Paris Camatchee
- 20-01-21
flat from start the finish
has high hopes for this book but the story was flat, the narrators attempts at an American accent and the ability to perform multiple characters we awkward and cringworthy and irritating
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 13-11-23
Unsure of the point
I really struggled to finish this book. The story was upsetting and seemed pointless. No resolution and no character development. The only redeeming factor was the narration, which was pleasant.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 09-08-23
Disappointing
Couldn’t bring myself to finish this. Not at all captivating with a story that’s hard to follow
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 06-01-23
Interesting description
I found the authors language quite interesting and poetic .. I loved her description of characters and dissection of situations
I thought narration was somewhat nervous
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 11-04-21
A poetic book beautifully performed
This is a meditation on memory it's function and also just through an accident of Birth family can have the potential to destroy you from the inside out rather than nurture.
This book is set in semi rural India and tells the story of a dysfunctional mother daughter relationship and how a diagnosis of dementia shifts the dynamic.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Avidreader
- 30-03-21
Where's the interest?
I was bored all the way through. Only finished it hoping for something interesting to happen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!