Reviews with content warning for Suicide attempt - Shuggie Bain

The book ends in 1992, the year that I left Glasgow. Not that I knew it as well as the author, I only lived there for three years and I didn't grow up there. Perhaps it is stating the obvious, but the book is about the most poverty-stricken people in Glasgow, not most people. Alcoholism was a big problem in the city at that time, but it isn't like most people were alcoholics. Sectarianism was also a big problem, but again, not with most people. But why is no one called Jimmy in this book, a strangely large proportion of Glaswegian men that I met were called Jimmy?
I enjoyed reading the dialect, it brought back good memories of the friendly, kind people that I met there. When I arrived (from England), I could not understand some of the locals (very embarrassing) and it took me about three months to get my ear in. Nevertheless, I had to look up quite a few words whilst reading this book. That is a definite advantage of e-books, it makes that much easier.
The book is well-written, with some nice phrases. "Rain was the natural state of Glasgow. It kept the grass green and the people pale and bronchial".
It is not a cheerful book. It is a tragedy, and we read about the very depths of human nature in the book. The ending could have been even more miserable, but nevertheless, it is not exactly riding off into the sunset. It would have been strange if it was. Although the author managed to get an education and escape from his situation, there are many people growing up in situations like that who don't. The context is everything. Mrs Thatcher destroyed the mines and the shipyards (near where I lived) and in doing so created the situation described in the book, whilst at the same time cutting the funding of the local authorities to prevent them from making an adequate response.
So, given that there is so much misery, why is it worth reading? Like any good literature, we read (in part) to understand situations we cannot experience first hand. This book helps us to understand what it was like to be Shuggie. As we read it, we find ourselves caring about what happens to him. That is worthwhile.

Content Warnings

bw23's review

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Well written, excellent portraiture of alcoholism but a slow tough read

Content Warnings

snl07002's review

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

corinnaxsophie's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book felt grey & muddy brown throughout. It put me in a reading slump after about 1/3rd because it was just all so hopeless and devastating.

Spoiler

“The happy year” was just a tiny ray of sunshine in this book that disappeared way too quickly again. But the very end really touched my heart and i thought it was beautiful

An amazingly written book, but it was just almost unbearable for me to read. Please mind the content warnings.

Content Warnings

ruthmac's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

polichinelle's review

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dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

shelby1994's review

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challenging dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

“Look, ah’m no trying to get ye drunk. Ah’m trying to have ye try a drink.”

“But why?” Agnes was suddenly very tired

“Because…Because it’s what normal people do.”

Stuart’s story about two people convinced that they can fake their way to normal made me deeply grateful for our generation’s increased embrace of sobriety. The downside of sobriety becoming “cool” is that mocktails can cost you the same $16 as a cocktail, but the upside is that sober folks are catered to at more and more places, and aren’t seen as begrudging oddities.

Winner of the 2020 Booker Prize, Stuart is an expert at exposing the schadenfreude of insular communities. Agnes and Shuggie may be the main characters here, but their community is the prime motivator; it sucks them into its depths and smothers them with its worst intentions. I don’t know that it’s possible to “like” this book - be affected by it, saddened by it, frustrated by it, sure. But I thought it would pull me in more. Maybe I distanced myself from it in the same way that I fail to relate to child-protagonists in movies or shows. I lack the ability to look back and really understand the world through the eyes of a child. And in order to not want to throttle everyone in this book, it requires the willingness to look at a mother through the ever-hopeful eyes of her little son.

Read If You:

Love Tiffany McDaniel
Want to read about a Scottish community that mirrors the former coal-towns of Appalachia
Feel like you waited your whole life to find a real friend

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