Burnt Sugar Podcast- Three Major Relationships

After reading the short list booker prize novel, Burnt Sugar, by Avni Doshi, our Lit Circle was compelled to share our thoughts in this podcast. Our goal was to take the listener through the journey of the story and explore different relationships with the unusual complex dynamics they created. We began by discussing Antara’s relationship with her mother, her husband Dillip, and herself. Our conversation incited tangents onto how the novel “is a similar yet mature” version of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club. By bringing together all our thoughts and takeaways, and adding to each other’s ideas, together we were able to have an incredible discussion about the novel. Reading Burnt Sugar, despite its mature themes, is worth it. It delves deep into familial dynamics, feminism, and mental health, and allows readers to come to their own conclusions about the ending of the novel.  Creating a podcast with our Lit Circle gave us the ability to elucidate our thoughts on a deeper level. It was an unconventional Socratic seminar, allowing us to bounce thoughts off one another, to crystalize our crucial takeaways. Discussing the novel under such stressful conditions forced us to think critically about each other’s ideas, while developing our listening skills. We played off the dynamics and energy of each other’s ideas, while uniting with even greater conclusions about what makes Burnt Sugar such a unique novel. n our podcast, we wanted to incorporate a form of art to express the themes we discussed. There were three songs that represented different themes and relationships we found significant throughout the novel. The first song we opened the podcast with was “Lego House” by singer and songwriter, Ed Sheeran. This emotionally-heavy song depicts the struggle of re-building a relationship that is slowly falling apart.  he soft melody and sweet lyrics contradict the intense and painful meaning behind Sheeran’s writing. This reveals the broken relationship Antara and Tara have and how both the mother and daughter want to remedy what has been broken even though it hurts. The next song we played in the background was, “The Doctor Said” a song by Chloe Adams, is a deep-cut song that addresses mental health issues, and the deep-seated anxiety of feeling very along within a big world. As well as this, the song addresses issues with her mom and dad, which perfectly translate to what Antara feels about her own family. The song is sung 1^st person, almost as if Antara is the person singing it, which allows readers to consider the songs as a translation of Antara’s inner turmoil.  Lastly, “She” by Harry Styles, was a long-great-vibes song that we chose as a wonderful way to end the podcast on a positive note. The song artistically expresses feminism in a subtle yet pleasing way, directly tying into the themes of feminism and Antara’s epiphany at the end of the novel. Creating a podcast with our Lit Circle gave us the ability to elucidate our thoughts on a deeper level. It was an unconventional Socratic seminar, allowing us to bounce thoughts off one another, to crystalize our crucial takeaways. Discussing the novel under such stressful conditions forced us to think critically about each other’s ideas, while developing our listening skills. In our podcast, we played off the dynamics and energy of each other’s ideas, while uniting with even greater conclusions about what makes Burnt Sugar such a unique novel. 

Eugenie, Sami, Kate