Rating: 5 / 5 ☆☆☆☆☆
Shuggie Bain is a novel that follows a young Glaswegian boy and his mother as they struggle through poverty and addiction issues, as well as touching on abuse and sexuality. It is more than a coming of age, despite the reader following the young boy as he moves into adolescence, it is an authentic portrayal of a family dynamic rarely written about.
It’s clear from the outset, author, Douglas Stuart, has first hand experience with a lot of the themes, there is no brushing over or misinterpretation of the lives of this family, it is true from the outset.
I’ll admit when I first started to read the novel, I found myself put off by the graphic depiction of sexual assault so early in, and of the portrayal of women generally - especially as there was rarely an instance within the first three chapters where a woman wasn’t introduced without her ‘tits’ being menitoned. It became clear, though, as the novel went on and the protagonists view of female characters such as Agnes and Leanne, were far more rounded, that this description came from the viewpoint of the father, Shug Bain, and the attitude that was instilled into his son.
I was born in Scotland and raised in England, and experienced a lot of confused English faces when I attempted to explain stovies or what ‘haud yer wheesht’ meant (a common phrase in my household growing up). Reading this novel, in which Scottish culture was intertwined so seamlessly, and never intended to explain itself, felt so refreshing and exciting. Having been to a talk by Douglas Stuart, in which he explained his thought process in using dialectical speech, it felt not only a great addition, but a necessary one, to include the Glaswegian accent, as well as all the cultural things that come with it.
There’s a lot of complex emotions, utilised well within this story, and it never felt rushed. But the tragic ending, made more tragic by the readers understanding that it was imminent, was so well executed I cried in a Waterstones Cafe. I do feel hope for young Shuggie, though the circumstances of his life are against him, his friendship with Leanne and that inclusion at the very end, of them tending to her own alcoholic mother, only increased my positivity that they will get out and they will be okay. Even if I am just being delusional.
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