Girl in White Cotton Paperback – September 1, 2020

I loved this book with all of my heart + soul. I recommend it to everyone on the planet. Especially those want to feel an immense amount. I was touched, moved, heartbroken all at once.

Girl in White Cotton is a story about a woman dealing with the mental decline of her mother, a mother who treated her poorly her entire life. The book follows the narrator through a series of interactions with her various family members and friends who all seem to gaslight her and also through a series of flashbacks about her depressing childhood.The main character, Antara is a relatable character who struggles with her perception of both herself and her mother, their history together, and her place in the world. She has a troubled past with her mother that extends into the presence which makes things difficult because she is now responsible for caring for her in her failing mental health. Her mother doesn't make things easy, nor does anyone else in her life. Everyone kind of treats her like trash and acts like she is the one with issues. I had a difficult time understanding the mother's motivations, even after some of their history is revealed. I understand part of it as an adult, but it's difficult to understand how she could treat her young daughter so poorly, even given some of the facts you learn. I'm trying not to give away too much here. In the end I didn't feel like I had a good understanding of the mother, but perhaps this is my failure as a reader.Overall the book is well written if you enjoy literary fiction, poetic prose, being deeply ingrained in the mind of a character. There's some great insights into the mind, memory, relationships/family, etc. Where it falls a bit short for me is with the story itself. It's a constant stream of dreary with no real relief making it feel a bit monotonous in tone. I prefer depressing stories, but this one failed at having any emotional variation for me so it felt a bit dull at times. I found myself bored in spots. The "twist" was also not that interesting to me and the ending left me wondering what I was supposed to take away from the experience. In a way I like that because I'm not really sure what to make of it, but in a way it raised more questions than it answered which can be unsatisfying. However, I suppose it was appropriate in overall tone.I would recommend this book if you like reading for beautiful prose and you want something depressing. It scratched an itch for me despite missing something. I would give it 4.5 if I could because I think it was almost there for me.

it's one of the best books I've read till date. The author Ms. Doshi is beyond brilliance in her in depth analysis of anything and everything. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when her female protagonist sounds smarter than the doctor! Only deep empathy can produce such a book.

Sure it's wonderfully written. Much of the writing is impactful and highly detailed, considering that it's the author's first book. Dark, with very subtle, occasional hint of humour. Tightly written.The only peeve is that the writing is uneven. You'll read a few pages of some astonishing writing, and suddenly you'll land in what turns out to be (relatively) mediocre stuff. Sometimes you wonder if it's the same author you read only a few pages back. I watched one of her interviews where she said she spent nearly 6-7 years on this book - perhaps it got a little tiring for her, considering that's a little dark and disturbing?But on the whole, it's a really good read.

This book shortlisted for the Booker Prize caught my attention when browsing the Kindle store. My previous experience with Booker Prize winners was quite unsatisfactory, after the laborious attempt to finish Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children. The writer (Avni Doshi) has amazing literary skills, language-wise, and the similes and other literary embellishments are extraordinary (a certain Mr.Bhagat with pedestrian writing skills, dishing out trashy potboilers suitable only for 3rd grade Bollywood movies might want to pick up some tips on how to frame engaging sentences, not some flimsy school composition by a 3rd grader in primary school). Yet, in my opinion, the storyline meanders along without effectively engaging the reader to the characters. But, in all fairness, the author has done an extensive research to flesh out the protagonist, especially with regard to her ailment. Good as a one-time read, would not be surprised if it ends up being the Booker Prize winner for this year.

Yes , writing and observing is about tiny details . The tiny details are supposed to be beautiful and make you stop a moment , and fall in love a little more. But good lord, the details she tries to add throughout the book is disgusting and make you feel like throwing up . Every single one of them .5 star for quality of the book , but I really hope you don't put yourself through this.

Antara and Tara, two women who are unwillingly (at times) bound by the relationship of a mother and daughter, struggle to find their place in each other’s life. As Tara begins to lose her memory, Antara struggles to deal with her life and those around her. This book is about Antara narrating her life expertly shuffling between her past and present. She draws remarkable parallels between her past to the happenings of her present.Avni Doshi has skillfully narrated the intricately twisted tale of a mother and daughter. Her writing style forces the reader to handhold the narration and walk along to understand where it leads ultimately. The progression of the story may seem predictable to few readers but Doshi manages to surprise her readers with apt climaxes. The past-present shuffle narrative is one of my favourite writing styles and hence it was one of the things that I truly enjoyed as part of my reading experience.“... ‘Reading changes everything. But it wasn’t language that held appeal, only the symbols that made it up, abstract and random, characters I infused with alternative meanings...”This quote from the book represents the perfect summation of how the reader feels while reading this book. A loosely tied string with abstract moments is what this book read like.While Doshi manages to script certain imagery with extreme detail, certain incidents are poorly sketched, leaving the reader with an incomplete picture. Undoubtedly there were certain parts of the book where I felt lost and struggled to join the dots with the flow of the story. The ending of the book too left me with a sense of disappointment as there seemed to be no closure. This may be a deliberate attempt by the author. However, in my opinion, this works well when the reader has ample information from the story to piece together a nearly apt ending.The story is not exceptional. However, the writing and the presentation is a winning point for Doshi. It leaves the interpretation on the reader, and I am sure each reader would have a different take-away from the book. So I would say this is definitely a one-time read.