In this last section of the book, we learn that Antara had a relationship with Reza. It is unclear whether this was an extramarital affair or something before Dilip but it is clear that there is a lot of shame and guilt wrapped in the situation. Tara is furious about the revelation and Antara is spiraling which is extremely dangerous as she is heavily pregnant. Eventually, Antara has her baby (a girl) and she is not as enthused as she thought she would be. She has constant thoughts of killing herself and her child, and she feels disconnected from her life around her. As she begins to accept that this is her new life, she is disregarded by Dilip’s mom and Dilip barely speaks to her- she feels left out due to the changes in her body and the new responsibility she has. It all comes to a head, though, when everyone comes over for tea time. Tara, Nani, Antara’s dad, stepmother, stepbrother, Purvi, Purvi’s husband, and all of the servants are in the room to greet the baby and to visit Tara. This culminates in Antara becoming extremely overwhelmed when Tara starts to have a delusion about Annikka believing that she is Antara is Dilip is Antara’s father. In spite of Antara’s protests, everyone feeds in to the delusion and sings this lullaby that Antara doesn’t know-further alienating her. Feeling completely left out she flees the apartment and imagines herself getting in a rickshaw and wandering the city with bare feet. However, she just stands outside of the apartment complex for the rest of the night and in the morning she goes back upstairs and hopes to be let into her apartment again.

Things I Liked:

• The book, honestly. It was a decent read especially as a stream of consciousness. I thought the ending was really good seeing as it just reinforces Antara’s idea that she doesn’t belong and her mother will always force her out even of the own family she created.

Things I Disliked:

• Dilip

Now that we’ve reached the end of the novel, I can recognize that there are a lot of elements prominent in Burnt Sugar that appear in the other novels that have been shortlisted. Stephen Levin explores whether there is a Booker aesthetic and how the history of the prize contributes to its efforts to decolonize literature. Levin believes that there is a Booker aesthetic as the prize itself was hoped to create a place where brilliant novels are rewarded, but instead it has created a prototype. From the 2020 list specifically, it is easy to see that there is some sort of prototype that the judges flocked to when picking their shortlist. All of the books (except The Shadow King) feature familial trauma, specifically with mothers. In addition, all of the novels have commented on a large social issue whether it be racism, homophobia, or climate change. So, in terms of if the Booker Prize has an aesthetic I would say yes. It seems the Booker prefers books that have something that is tangible to everyone like family and then a larger social issue running throughout the novel.