I have tried to read this book a dozen times. I can not get into it. The dialog is difficult, there are no redeeming characters, and it it just not the book for me. I am sadly giving up on it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read this book.

Absolutely love this book. Heartfelt, gut wrenching, no wonder it was a booker. The writing was raw, which is appreciated. Five stars and beyond. Couldn’t put it down once I started.

Shuggie is a young boy who lives a very challenging life with his fractured family. He lives in a run down Glasgow housing estate with his alcoholic mother and his older brother Leek. His sister leaves and barely keeps in contact. His father is unfaithful to his mother and is a rare visitor.
This is the rather bleak story of Shuggie’s attempts to negotiate life with little support, trying to be a “normal” boy. He cares very much for his mother and does his best to look after her, even though she is constantly and consistently neglectful.
For all of its depression and poverty, abuse and heartbreak this is a compelling read. I did, however, feel that the peripheral characters needed a bit more depth. Thank you to Douglas Stuart, Picador and Net Galley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart is a gritty, frank look at the struggles that can result through poverty, addiction, depression, and poor choices. Though set in Scotland in the 1980s, the trials are universal.

It's as if, whenever hope starts to blossom in someone, characters emerge with an intent is to destroy any semblance of happiness or a normal, fruitful life ("She had loved him, and he had needed to break her completely to leave her for good....It wouldn't do to leave pieces of her for another man to collect and repair later").

My heart ached with the sadness in these pages in this epic scope of Shuggie's life and the lives of his family members. The acknowledgments start with a note to the author's mother and siblings, and I can't help but understand this story was a testament to finding a way through hardships.

(I received a digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.)

I have read a lot of feedback on this novel that complains of a lack of respite- that it is one bleakness after another. That’s true, it’s a dark and heavy book centered on alcoholism- and also touches on rape, child abuse and abandonment, infidelity, poverty, unemployment, bullying, and growing up queer in an environment that is far from accepting- or even tolerant- of anything eccentric. It is very clear that Douglas Stuart can write- this book reads like a classic. For me, what respite there is comes from the writing. Comparing coke dust to “the inside of a burst Etch-a-Sketch” or Stuart’s use of Scottish dialects- if you read this for no other reason, read it because you will walk around thinking to yourself in a Scottish accent for days. (I’m kidding, please dae not pick this book up for that reason and then complain to me that it’s no right.)

I think asking for respite in a book like this is discrediting to what it must be like to grow up in a house with a single parent who is an alcoholic (while also struggling with your own burgeoning sexuality). It sounds so simple- “I grew up with a mother who was an alcoholic,” but Shuggie got absolutely no respite from his life. So as readers, why should we? Even when Shuggie’s mother is sober, he still has to deal with bullies and food insecurity, he has not a single friend, he has a brother with one foot out the door, and no other family to speak of. This is not a book that was written for the comforts of the reader.

My only criticism (which probably speaks more to my lack of sophistication as a reader and not to the skill of Stuart) is that I wanted more Shuggie, even if it was just more Suggie interacting with Agnes. We get a tease of him at the start, then we spend the bulk of the book watching The Agnes Show, and then we get a little Shuggie at the end. To be fair, living with alcoholic Agnes is probably like living in the Agnes Show, but I didn’t quite feel the magnetism between Shuggie and Agnes until after they’ve moved back to the city. I felt the last third of the book was the most successful part, though there is incredible writing throughout.

All in all, I was disappointed by this book. In the case of Booker winners, sometimes they'll get it exactly right with their choice and at other times they'll prize books which are innovative in some literary way while leaving the reader cold. In the case of 'Shuggie Bain', I just struggle to see what it is which has so impressed others.

The story is more concerned with Shuggie's mother, Agnes, and her struggles with alcoholism in 1980s Glasgow. It's packed full of despair, with little light at the end of the tunnel. Each chapter is presented almost as a vignette, such that many of them could be removed and you wouldn't notice their absence. At times, I felt like the whole book was made up of these and I couldn't quite see the value of individual scenes.

At times, it feels more like a play than a novel. I'd actually be quite interested to see this story adapted for the stage. I suspect it would be more at home there.

With 'Shuggie Bain', Stewart offers a bleak and uncompromising picture of poverty and addiction, without offering any of the deeper insight or understanding that I would have hoped for. Rather than being moved, I felt it a slog to get to the end.

Shuggie Bain is the author's love letter to his alcoholic mother. It is beautiful, heartbreaking and never judgemental. Shuggie Bain's acceptance of his mother's affliction, the privations it causes, the men who lead her astray, the missed opportunities - never with even the slightest hint of bitterness. The backdrop of Thatcher's Britain; a fictitious mining community outside Glasgow; the divergence of the working class into a middle class and an underclass - it is a vivid and accurate reflection of the times. It is Angela's Ashes without the piety.

The writing of this book is very good. I appreciated the lighter sections that made me laugh, and I really felt for all of the characters and the challenges they face. Stuart really sets a mood. That said, it's a very dark book and was hard for me to read. Sometimes a fantastic book reaches us at not the best time. I think that's the case here. I really appreciate your sending me a copy to read and review.

his is one tragic story. I am currently not in a state to read this as my own son is 5 year old. I can't stop putting his face on Shuggie while I am reading this. So not my cup of tea.

Not rating it as of now. It is a written well and a good story.

Thank you Netgalley for ARC in exchange of a honest review!

A multi-layered, beautiful book about alcoholism, motherhood, and wanting to feel loved and safe. Agnes is a mother in Scotland to three children who is fighting to feel beautiful, loved, and to stay sober. Set primarily in the 1980s, she tries everything she knows to keep her man, Shug. The story is told from the perspective of her youngest child, Shuggie, who tries to be what his mother needs to stay sober. The book is achingly beautiful, emotional, real and so worth reading. It left me asking the question why some children repeat their parents mistakes and others develop resilience.

The author has an exquisite gift for detail. His observations are so clear that you feel as a reader that you are in the story. One example was how he described Shuggie ironing a black dress shirt with creases so knife-sharp in the arms that he looked 2-dimensional. It was so vivid to me as a reader.

My book club read this book and had so much to discuss. You will want to talk about this book after you read it.

A lovely if at times painful and lonely read. This story will sit with you for awhile. Ever page is filled with great humanity and empathy.

A heartbreaking raw and real coming of age story that stayed with me long after reading!
So well written, this one really emphasises alcohol addiction and the effects it has not only on the individual but also their family.
So completely emotionally overwhelming but definitely worth the read.

I had heard a lot of comparisons to A Little Life with this book (which my favorite novel of all time), so I was excited to read Shuggie Bain. This was recommended to me by a lot of trusted recommendation sources.

This is the story of a poor working class family in Scotland in the 1980s. It follows the Bain family and their struggle, with a particular emphasis on the mother, Agnus, and her addiction to alcohol and her relationship with her youngest son, Shuggie.

I loved this story - it was so well written I see why it won the Booker prize. It was gritty, sad, yet realistic and oddly hopeful. It is definitely a book you need to be in the mood to read - I can see a lot of readers having to set this one aside (especially during the pandemic). The reason this wasn't 5 stars for me was that the story was slow at parts and I found it hard to get into in the beginning. It wasn't until about 25% that I started getting invested in the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Grove Atlantic for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There’s nothing I can say about Douglas Stuart’s 2020 Booker Prize winning novel, Shuggie Bain, that hasn’t already been said. Know that I laughed, I cried, and I ached for Shuggie, his alcoholic mother, Agnes, and his siblings. This story is raw and tender and hopeful and heartbreakingly sad.

In my tradition of not reviewing books that have a squillion reviews on Goodreads, I have instead put together a mix tape, drawing on some favourite passages in the book. Needless to say, I had dozens to choose from in Shuggie.

5/5 Shuggie has my heart.

I received my copy of Shuggie Bain from the publisher, Grove Atlantic, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Cold Water | Damien Rice & Lisa Hannigan

Rain was the natural state of Glasgow. It kept the grass green and the people pale and bronchial.

Drink With Me | Les Misérables

Wullie and Shuggie were sitting at the round dining table eating soft eggs and soldiers. Sixty years apart, they were huddled together in the far corner like old drinking pals.

Sad Songs | Elton John

Sadness made for a better houseguest; at least it was quiet, reliable, consistent.

No More I Love Yous | Annie Lennox

He saw…his funny little brother, hungry and fearful, while his mother sat with her head in the oven.

Island of Lost Souls | Blondie

To Shuggie, the aunties who came to visit were often worse. It was like Agnes’s worse qualities went out and found a friend.

Glory Days | Bruce Springsteen

Shuggie heard the nurse say to a male attendant that she thought for sure Agnes was a working girl. “She is not,” said Shuggie, quite proudly. “My mother has never worked a day in her life. She’s far too good-looking for that.”

Man Overboard | Do Re Mi

Shuggie arranged three tea mugs: one with tap water to dry the cracks in her throat, one with milk to line her sour stomach, and the third with a mixture of Special Brew and stout that he had gathered from around the house and frothed together with a fork. He knew this was the one she would reach for first, the one that would stop the crying in her bones. He leaned over and listened to her breathing. Her breath was stale with cigarettes and sleep, and so he went to the kitchen and filled a fourth mug with bleach for her teeth. He tore a page from his ‘Popes of the Empire’ homework and wrote in soft pencil: DANGER! Teeth Cleaner. Do not drink. Don’t even sip by accident.

Rumor Has It | Adele

She felt the breeze of a thousand net curtains twitching.

When All Is Said And Done | ABBA

She was no use at maths homework, and some days you could starve rather than get a hot meal from her, but Shuggie looked at her now and understood this was where she excelled. Everyday with the make-up on and her hair done, she climbed out of her grave and held her head high. When she had disgraced herself with drink, she got up the next day, put on her best coat, and faced the world. When her belly was empty and her weans were hungry, she did her hair and let the world think otherwise.

Lonely Together | Barry Manilow

…Shuggie sat by her feet like a quiet shadow. He watched without talking while she drank from the bottomless tea mug. She told him bad stories of his father again, picking up the tale like it was a book she had only set to the side for a year.

Don’t Leave Me On My Own | Chris Isaak

“Shit. Your balls will be dropping soon. Look it won’t be for that long. Just a wee while longer, till you can go too.”
Shuggie’s head pulled back on his neck in disgust. “Then who will look after her?”
“Well. She’ll have to look after herself.”
“Then how will she ever get better?”

Live It Up | Mental As Anything

There were other times she fell sober because she had no choice. On the weeks when all the benefit money was gone, and no man would bring her a carry-out, then a type of grudging sobriety would start. If that happened on a Thursday, then her sobriety had a four-day running start. Shuggie always rooted for it. But the drink rarely lost. It was like a bully who gave Agnes that running start in the grinning confidence he would catch her easily, and she’d be battered again when the benefit book was cashed again the following Monday. Still, Shuggie always fell for it.

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stewart is a coming of age story in 1980s Scotland. Shuggie’s father is absent and his mother is an alcoholic. The Bain family are impoverished and dysfunctional.
The writing was difficult for me, I really had a hard time with the dialect.

This novel starts off slow. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it through the dialect and the slow pace but I am glad I did.

This novel will immerse you in Glasgow and its surroundings. I enjoy a novel that transports me to another environment with complete immersion which I suspect the dialect was a part of though it made the reading a struggle at times for me.

Shuggie Bain is a debut novel, one of many I hope for Mr. Stewart. Helluva debut, applause to the author.

Wow what an emotional gritty story this is. It is such a powerful piece of writing for a debut novel and one that will stay with me for a long time

Adding my name to the list of people who loved Shuggie. So good, only sorry that it took me so long to get to. Thank you!

Immersive and raw, Shuggie Bain is a compelling account of a broken family. A well deserved winner of the Booker prize, this book is a heartbreaking account of Shuggie and his mother, Agnes’ battle with poverty and alcoholism in the shadow of 1980’s politics and the Thatcher years.
This book is bleak but powerful , a novel which perfectly explores the ravaged family in the grips of a dark political and social era for Scotland. Shuggie Bain will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

Thank you NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

Shuggie Bain is a deep, dark read. It is emotionally gut wrenching and raw. It is a masterpiece. The dialect takes some getting used to for an American, but once you do this is a compelling read. You can feel yourself rooting for success for Agnes and therefore Shuggie even though you know disappointment is bound to come again and again. Such a strong novel— make sure to add it to your to be read list.

‘No day ever started well with six dozen raw chickens, and today of all days it was stealing the sweetness out of his daydreams.’

Glasgow, 1992. We meet Hugh ‘Shuggie’ Bain working at a supermarket. He has just turned sixteen and is trying to combine schooling with a part-time job. He does not receive adult wages and struggles to keep his things neat in the boarding house where he lives. But Shuggie has dreams.

‘Tomorrow was something to look forward to.’

But what about the past? The story shifts back to 1981, to public housing in Sighthill, Glasgow, to Agnes Bain, Shuggie’s mother:

‘To be thirty-nine and have her husband and her three children, two of them nearly grown, all crammed together in her mammy’s flat, gave her a feeling of failure.’

Unemployment is rife, housing is scarce. Agnes is used to getting what she wants, but it is never enough for her. She craves different, excitement, more. She left her first husband for Shug Bain (‘Big Shug’) a philandering taxi-driver and dreams of having her own house. Agnes is bored, and when she is bored, she drinks.

Things become worse when Shug moves her to Pithead in 1982. She is away from family and friends. Living in a house in an area mostly occupied by unemployed miners and their families. After her older children leave, Shuggie tries to look after her. He feels, as so many children in his situation feel, responsible. He is sure that he can make her better if only he tries harder. He knows how to help her:

‘Shuggie arranged three tea mugs: one with tap water to dry the cracks in her throat, one with milk to line her sour stomach, and the third with a mixture of the flat leftovers of Special Brew and stout that he had gathered from around the house and frothed together with a fork. He knew that this was the one she would reach for first, the one that would stop the crying in her bones.’

If Shuggie is 16 in 1992, then he can only be 6 in 1982. He is carrying the weight of responsibility for his mother and of being different from the other boys. Agnes makes a sad attempt to get one of her male neighbours to be a role model for Shuggie, trading in the only currency she has. To no avail.

This is a heartbreaking story of addiction and love. Agnes is not unaware of the impact of her drinking, but she is in the grips of an addiction. She manages to stay sober for a period, which makes her eventual relapse even harder to bear.

The best advice given to Shuggie is from his brother ‘Leek’ (Alexander):

‘Don’t make the same mistake as me. She’s never going to get better. When the time is right you have to leave. The only thing you can save is yourself.’

What does the future hold for Shuggie? I’d like to think that his story continues on, he acquires the education he wants and finds a place for himself. He did his best for Agnes, but she was beyond help. Addiction is a devastating, destructive, sneaky condition. Especially alcoholism, where some vulnerable people can slide from acceptable social drinking into the abyss of dependency.

This is such a powerful novel with origins in Mr Stuart’s own experience. It’s a novel based in a sad, gritty reality.
It’s a novel that will stay with me. I have read it twice. I have bought my own copy.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith