Shuggie Bain
Stuart, DouglasYou can say what you like about young Shuggie being different and not fitting in, but there's no denying the fact that he loves his mother and is loyal to her through thick and thin. Life in the Thatcher era hasn't been easy for Agnes Bain - three children with absent fathers, no money to speak of and the lure of the demon drink. Poverty, addiction, abuse ... the grim realities of gentle Shuggie's Glaswegian childhood that he is doing his best to survive.
Raw and powerful, this is an unflinching coming-of-age story of love and brokenness, written with empathy and expressed through its well developed characters.
Pages
430
430
Year
2020
2020
Reviews
15-10-2024
The group enjoyed this despite the hard life depicted and the way the characters lived. It wasnt difficult to read.
23-05-2024
A fabulous book. The characterisation and non-judgemental viewpoint enabled us to look past the situation and see the people. A difficult read but very worth the perseverance with the sadness of their situation.
01-05-2024
Very grim but beautifully written. An important read - giving insight into 80s UK under Thatcher. Great characterisation.
10-01-2024
A tough read. Well-written, sad and disturbing content, but worth the effort.
13-11-2023
Took some perseverance to get to the end as it was so traumatic and sad. Was well-written with great descriptions. People with alcoholism in their families were not keen to read it though.
06-11-2023
Heart-rending, brilliant and gripping. Led to a wonderful human discussion.
18-10-2023
Bleak and beautiful with vivid imagery and characters that linger long after reading. Many members didn't finish due to heavy content. Trigger warning for sexual assault, child abuse and addiction.
13-09-2023
A "meaty" book. Good descriptive writing of life living with an alcoholic. Good descriptions of poverty and life in the UK after Maggie Thatcher closed the pits.
13-09-2023
Thoroughly depressing but brilliantly written. Well deserved 'Booker' winner.
06-07-2023
A profound and unsettling book - 2 members chose not to finish it. Others appreciated the passion and compassion needed by the author to put the story together with strong word pictures, brief flashes of humour, "beautiful" (sic) depictions of individuals and their quirks. A powerful read.
08-06-2023
Enjoyed the writing style, and although it was a grim story there were a lot of light moments. We thought the description of living with an alcoholic was told with sensitivity and great humour. What an amazing feat to write with such objectivity about a horrible experience you have lived.
01-06-2023
Small and faint print made this difficult to read. The Large Print version was appreciated. The book highly ranked by the majority. Gave great insights into many aspects of Glasgow life and living with an alcoholic.
03-05-2023
This book brought strong reaction from the group. The ongoing struggles of Shuggie Bain and his family was extraordinarily sad to read. The writing style was delightful and descriptive to the point of creating lasting and vivid memories.
20-04-2023
We all enjoyed this book - but oh so sad!
13-04-2023
Our Group thought this was one of the best books for quite some time - beautifully written and a sad and poignant glimpse of alcoholism, but with love at the heart. Virginia Larsen's notes were also extremely well put together and thoughtful.
22-03-2023
A beautiful portrayal of a community steeped in desperate times. Another family's fight for individual survival of addiction. Our hearts were mutually in grief for Shuggie.
22-03-2023
Only a few read the book, and of those that did, one loved it, and 3 struggled. Not because it was badly written, they just found the subject hard to read about.
22-03-2023
I laughed and cried, the story stayed with me and I still think about it. Not everyone read it, but those who did enjoyed it.
02-03-2023
Very detailed story. Wonderful descriptive language. Hard to get into story at first but once hooked we had to keep reading. Much discussion on alcoholism.
30-01-2023
Rather grim reading, but well worthwhile!
17-11-2022
We all acknowledged this was a hard book to read, but we felt the story was compelling and the writing beautiful. It was hard to believe that the story wasn't an autobiography, but the fact that Douglas Stuart had re-created it from memories of his early life gave the story reality; and helped to protect any people who might otherwise have been identified.
23-09-2022
Lots of discussion.
21-09-2022
So well-written, but so hard to read about the ground-down lives caught in poverty, alcoholism and dysfunction. A book where the characters really get to the reader. Really hard to comprehend this 'normal'. This will not be everyone's choice of book but skilfully done, with autobiographical elements.
01-08-2022
A very powerful story, very well-written, which gripped our group. Lots of interesting discussion. We all thought that there was hope for a happier future for Shuggie.
27-06-2022
I found it an utterly absorbing book. I loved the anecdotal approach, and the beautiful writing with such clear fresh images. The subject matter is bleak and challenging. I have alcoholism in my family and could feel for Shuggie.
29-04-2022
Polarising book - some couldn't get past the first chapter, others loved it and found it very moving.
27-10-2021
Loved this book - except for one of us who speaks English as a second language, who found the Scottish accent quite hard to follow. All characters were sympathetically written about - sad and beautiful.