I finished this a couple of days ago and it only took me a few days to read as once I started the story, it held my interest and I had to find out what happened.
I thought that this was a great book, but quite depressing, and at times, disturbing. However, it is beautifully written, and it is easy to see why it is getting such rave reviews.
The story is set in Glasgow in the late 80's and spans across the early 90's, centering on the Bain family.
Agnes Bain is a mother of three, her youngest son Shuggie is the title character, and he is named after his father Shug, who is mostly absent throughout, after he leaves Agnes.
Although Agnes appears to look after herself on the outside, dressing up and ensuring both hair and make up are in place, she struggles with alcohol abuse.
As time goes by, the destruction it causes to her life and that of her children is shown in depth, and it is a really sad journey. She gets worse, and can't hold down a job or provide for her children.
Shuggie has an unwavering love for his mother and misses many a school day making sure she is ok, cashing in her benefits for her to buy more booze with, and keeping her safe.
Shuggie is gay and is constantly bullied, but he is a resilient boy and goes to such lengths for his mother. My heart went out to him as he faced many struggles.
I don't want to spoil the story for others, but I would recommend reading this, especially for those that enjoyed Angela's Ashes.

Shuggie Bain, deservedly the booker prize winner, is an absolutely brilliant and devastating tale of growing up pains in Thatcher era Scotland in a household led by an alcoholic mother and tormented by dysphoric homosexuality. Stuart's writing is tender even when it delivers the brutal plot twists and his language unembellished yet incisive like a sharpened scalpel. There is little more to be said about the book that has captured hearts across the world but this much is universal: it's an absolute must read.

This is definitely a book everyone should read at least once in their lives. The heartbreaking story of a boy that just wants to be loved and a world that took advantage of his innocence.

Agnes Bain always expected more from the world. She tried her best to look and be the part of doting wife and mother. When in reality she was an alcoholic that pushed her family away one by one. Shuggie Bain is the youngest son of Agnes, a boy who grew up in shitty public housing in Glasgow and never really stood a chance.

Her addiction overturned her life and left them without basic necessities most of the time. Each child trying to save her from herself only for her to fall harder each time back into her addiction. The other children left as soon as they had the chance knowing they could never save her leaving Shuggie to fend for himself and look after Agnes.

Shuggie was a lonely kid abandoned by everyone but his mother yet he wasn’t a normal boy and people speculated but never understood why?

Wasn't this a real heartbreaker. I was so blown away by how much this book made me feel even though it was so grim.

I received a copy of Shuggie Bain from Net Galley. Thank you. This book tore my heart out. The author skilfully leads you through a life of a boy with a terrible childhood. I felt so bad for Shuggie.

I really think I read this one wrong.
But I didn't love it. Honestly I didn't even like it. It was one of those "it was okay" books.


I'm just gonna randomly tell why I did not fall into the Shuggie love train.....

It's the story of a young boy named Shuggie and growing up with his alchoholic single mother. BUT the book really should have been called Agnes Bain because it really focuses more on mom that it did Shuggie.

Then that focus? I never did feel any connection to these characters. I did not get the insight to who they were in order to really feel anything for them. I felt cheated. I mean damn, if I'm gonna wallow in someone's misery let me at least have a bit of care for them.

The dark. Damn people I love some dark books! This even made me feel bad...now I'm gonna have to kiss some kittens or some crap to make up for this mess. (Yes, I'm aware that this was based loosely on the author's life-we all had bad shit happen and I'm not in the mood to sit there right now-I can watch the news for that.)


Booksource: Netgalley in exchange for review.

"He wondered, how does a fish free itself of a hook?"

Do we lie in the beds we have made or do other people make the beds we find ourselves lying in? How much responsibility for the past, present and future is ours to own and how much responsibility can we lay at the feet of others?

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart will not answer these questions for you but it will give you plenty to think about.

"You go up in flames, and everything you touch you destroy; everyone you love steps away, steps back from the fire. Money burns, families burn, careers burn, reputations burn, and when it’s all burnt, you still burn."

Shuggie is one of the many in orbit around his mother Agnes in this novel set in 1980s Glasgow. The beautiful third person narrative contrasts sharply with the characters’ Glaswegian dialect as deep yearnings for better play out against harsh, violent realities. The adage “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results” certainly applies here. Fortunately, Douglas Stuart’s deft writing makes it impossible not to cheer on Agnes and her family as we watch them fail, then pick themselves up to try again.

You may see discussions about the need for a Glasgow-specific slang dictionary. Maybe because I read this fresh off of The Wake and Riddley Walker, to me the dialect wasn’t difficult. The author gives us enough context to understand the sense and meaning of the characters’ interactions even if we may not recognize every word.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic for the opportunity to review an ARC of this novel via Netgalley.

A stunning portrait of Glasgow life in the 1980s-you will be transported. Truly an unforgettable rendering in exquisite detail of Agnes Bain, mother of three, haughty, alcoholic, stubborn, ashamed, and desperate for affection. The title character Shuggie is her youngest son, never fitting in, always trying to please his mother, trying to make things okay. By focusing the title on him rather than Agnes (who is the absolute center of the book) we see Agnes through the eyes of her child, we think about how her actions affect him, we want better for her, but especially for innocent Shuggie, who never falters in his love for his mother.

4+ stars

So unrelentingly bleak! But so beautifully written... Shuggie’s mother is a severe alcoholic. As the youngest child of the family, Shuggie’s early life is entirely tied to his mother’s moods and drinking cycles. While his two older siblings manage to escape, Shuggie remains loyal and miserable. It doesn’t help that he is gay and can’t seem to find a comfortable place amongst his peers. Set in Scotland in the 1980s, this semi autobiographical novel is a heart-wrenching portrait of the devastation addiction can cause. There is empathy for Shuggie’s mother and some acts of kindness and love, but mostly this is a harsh portrait. It took me a while to read Shuggie Bain, partially because it’s long and also because it’s painful, but it was well worth reading. Thanks to Netgalley for giving me access to an advance copy.

Shuggie Bain's brilliance is not in the re-telling of a story about a poor family with an alcoholic mother, an absent father, and a childhood riddled with hunger, loneliness, and humiliation. Douglas Stuart's use of the language in describing this somewhat autobiographical novel is where the brilliance comes in. Stuart's prose is dense and made me go back and read sentences that gave so much in five or six words.

Douglas Stuart designed clothes for many years, and he has managed to transform his talent for creation from clothing to words. Shuggie Bain is the youngest of three children and the one who stands out. Shuggie's love for his mother, Agnes, is unfaltering. Mother and son are each other's world, entirely. Problematically, Agnes relies too much on lager to help her face the world, the dingy Thatcher years in Scotland.
Everyone is suffering, but most find ways to work at surviving. Agnes works hard at self-destruction.

Shuggie is a small boy with a huge heart and a different way of seeing the world. Thank goodness Shuggie existed and grew up to be an exemplary writer. Thank you to Grove Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this Booker Prize winner.

Shuggie Bain was one of the best books I've ever read.

I loved the Glaswegian setting and vernacular, even though there might have been a couple of things that I wasn't sure of.

The separate struggles of Shuggie and his mother were heart breaking and far from unique. The characters were so vivid. It was frustrating to see them unable to help themselves. Shuggie's mother Agnes was so vulnerable and yet so tough. I loved the descriptions of how she dressed up. My heart broke for Shuggie, over and over.

This book made me really think about how alcoholism affects families. A spectacular novel.

I love how well the characters (mostly Shuggie, Agnes but Eugene and Leek are among the honorable mentions) and their struggles were portrayed in the book. However, please be cautious bc there's a shitton of trigger warnings and some scenes were really disturbing to read. The writing screamed Scottish, which I found myself fumbling with the slangs at first, but as the story went on, having adapted to the words, it became truly fascinating.

Still, I'd rather the author chose a different ending, or gave more insights of Thatcher's scheme. Worthy winner, and worth reading (if you are brave enough)

A dark story of poverty and substance abuse, beautifully told. Incredible exploration of what it means to love someone who is deeply flawed. The novel also paints a detailed picture of what it was like to be in Scotland when Thatcher was in charge, when her very name was used as a curse.

This is a well written, but hard, hard read. There is so much sadness here that I found myself perk up a bit when I though Agnes might find her way through her alcoholism, but those hopes were quickly dashed. This is heavy emotional stuff, and the characters are so worn out it is hard to connect with them...except Shuggie. Dear, sweet Shuggie. I'm glad I read it, but I'm also glad it is over. Thank you NetGalley and publishers for providing a digital ARC for review.

This was much darker and depressing than I expected from the rave reviews.
It is a gritty story that left me underwhelmed.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

This isn’t a feel good book. This book is a journey through the pain and destruction found at the bottom of the bottle. Addiction takes no prisoners, and Agnes Bain is no exception.

The Bains live a dour and gloomy life, not unlike the blustery and oppressive Glasgow weather. Agnes’ destructive behavior and poor decisions compiled with the hard hitting poverty of Thatcher’s policies, create a hopeless situation. Agnes only finds escape in drunkenness. Her children, particularly the youngest, Shuggie, are left to flounder with no freedom from the weariness.

Much of the focus of this novel is on Agnes and her addiction. Shuggie definitely takes on a caretaker role with his mom. But his struggles don’t stop there. He is often called “no right.” This quiet, overly polite, well dressed gay child is overtly bullied by family, peers, neighbors, and teachers. Shuggie is desperate for approval but just can’t seem to find it.

While hard to read, the author paints a clear, albeit bleak, picture of life tainted by alcoholism and poverty. Stuart’s writing leaves no gloomy, desolate detail of Shuggie’s life unfelt by the reader. This is likely because this novel is not entirely a work of fiction. Rather, Agnes is based upon Douglas Stuart’s own mother.

In the end, we see a glimpse of possibility for Shuggie. It’s only a glimpse. But I chose to see it as a glimmer of hope. Hope that Shuggie never seemed to let go of, even in the worst of circumstances.

Good books often make you take stock, reflect, and learn. That’s exactly what Shuggie Bain did for me. My life looks very different from that of Agnes and Shuggie. But Stuart has allowed us readers the gift of reflection through this novel and the rawness of his own experience.

Many thanks to Douglas Stuart, Grove Atlantic, Grove Press, and NetGalley for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Since about the second chapter of this book I struggled to see what the Booker committee saw here and now that I've finished I can say that it's evaded me. I don't get it. I clearly missed it.

The writing is fine. Only fine. And the characterization is likewise just serviceable: it's hard to get a real grip on anyone here apart from Agnes or Shuggie, and even the two of them take a while to fully come into view. I feel like this is a result of the major issue of this book for me, the thing that prevented me from seeing what merit might have been here: the weird, jarring pacing.

There's the classic jumping back in time without warning mid-scene, grinding the flow of the story to a halt as the narration backtracks. There's the zeroing in on one character's journey through a particular moment - a moment that tends to be less interesting than other things that get completely glossed over in a matter of lines (like what Leek did to the man near the colliery??). And then there's the way time jumps are barely acknowledged, leaving you floundering to figure out when you are. (If you're thinking the designated section breaks would be helpful: think again. Most of the first chapters in each section take place immediately after the moment the previous chapter ended. Prompting the question...why bother with section breaks at all?) Couple this with the way so much (and I mean SO MUCH) of the action takes place off-screen and the whole book ends up feeling disjointed and out of focus, all the emphasis put in the wrong places. For me this was especially unfortunate because this is a book that covers ground that is already very, very well trodden in literary fiction, and I was hoping that there would be something exceptional that would elevate it, but as far as I can see there wasn't. There's only misery layered over misery, some of it held up plainly before you, but even more held just off to the side.

I'm certain others will find something to appreciate here. But if you're a reader who's only nominally interested in this type of story, you'll probably find a more satisfying read elsewhere.

I can definitely see how this won the Booker prize. It really is a fantastic book, but wow, is it ever bleak. If you’re a fan of Shane Meadows or Mike Leigh’s work, or even Shameless, you will absolutely love it, but aside from a few lighthearted moments here and there, it is pretty much front to back depressing, so that is something to keep in mind before reading. I do think because of that, it feels extremely long. I’m admittedly not a particularly fast reader, but it definitely took me longer to finish it than books of comparable size. Still, I don’t want to knock it too much for that, because I did really like it and can’t wait for the upcoming series based on it. Like I said before, it bears quite a bit of similarities to some other cinematic works, and it really reads like something made to be adapted into a movie or show. It’s also just written very well and it’s easy to picture everything going on, so I’m sure that plays a part in it feeling like you’re watching everything that’s unfolding. So yeah, it’s a wonderful book, but you should know going into it that it’s kind of a drag, but not in a bad way. I will say that the main reason that I’m bumping it down a star is because I wanted the book to be more about Shuggie. It’s really more about his mom with him kind of popping in and out and bookending the whole thing. Like, probably around 300 pages are pretty much strictly about his mom, and that’s kind of a shame because he was delightful. Still, great book. Thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the ARC.

What a truly sad story! My heart just broke for our protagonist Shuggie and of course his alcoholic mother, Agnes, who seemed to make the wrong choices in a place that was hard hit by poverty, hardship, and gloom. In essence, Agnes, is the main story line and as we follow her we feel great compassion not only for her struggles with alcohol, but also with a husband, a taxi driver, who philanders. Looking for love, Agnes only received the contempt of her husband who finally abandoned her and his son.

The setting is the grey and ominous Glasgow, Scotland where the family struggles. The older children, separate themselves from their mother, so it is Shuggie who is left to care for her and she for him. Agnes does have moments of sobriety where she pictures a very different life for herself and Shuggie, one where she will have a front door, and one where her life, her looks, and her style will be like her idol Elizabeth Taylor.

As Shuggie grows, he also struggles with his identity making him a target for the neighborhood kids. Shuggie is indeed different and that difference is one he needs to come to terms with.

This is an exhaustive read, one that will make the reader feel the depression, the hopelessness, and the despair of a family left bereft by governmental policies and the short sighted view of others. Honestly, it was a very difficult read for me as I was dragged into a life I could hardly imagine.

It was a wonderfully written story, but one that could cause a well spring of unhappiness and deep feelings in the reader.
Thank you to Douglas Stuart, Grove Press, and Netgalley for a copy of this tragic story.

Heart-rending tale of devotion & survival despite the odds😢

4.5🌟stars
This story of lost hope, alcoholism, and poverty in working class Glasgow is not an easy read. Author Douglas Stuart draws a depressing picture of the lives of young Shuggie, his beautiful but ruined mother, extended family and neighbors in economically depressed 1980's Glasgow. Poor Shuggie is persecuted because he does not fit in and he devotes his childhood and adolescence to protecting his beloved mother from her drinking. When others abandon her as a lost cause, Shuggie remains.

While his mother draws all of the attention with her destructive behavior, for me, it was the need to see Shuggie through his torment and out the other side that kept me reading when the bullying and exploitation got too heavy. And the family's happy and contented times when Mrs. Bain stops drinking and joins AA makes her relapse all the more crushing. Her enablers are all too eager to tempt her back to a life that crushes all hope from her sons. It's heartbreaking.

Neither easy to read nor to forget, Shuggie Bain may be a story that is too depressing for some but it's a modern tragedy that resonated with me. Shuggie is a pure hero whose devotion and loyalty to his mother, no matter her faults, really moved me.

Thanks to publishers Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing a complimentary copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review.

The writing in this book was beautifully done! Shuggie's story is heartbreaking, more so because it so easily happens to families. The descriptions of some of the scenes make !e think the author must have lived through something similar. It's a book that will stay with me for a long time, and I will keep it to read again. It was that good!