Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

99 reviews

leonkaspar's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

bookshelfhannah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

josiee123's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

4.5

 it was an absolute masterpiece, I can't stop thinking about it. It's raw, and heartfelt, and devastating.. and funny. The dry Scottish type of humour and sparks of hope in horrendously bad situations. I think I want to read it again soon, and also read Young Mungo because it follows some of the same characters i think. It was an 11/10 and I need to go back to visit Glasgow as soon as possible 🥹 if you're reading it or plan to, I mean there's a lot of brutal violence so if that's not your thing, maybe don't. Several times i had to put it down for a few weeks. But, there's a good review essay about how the novel mirrors romantic relationships between man+woman with the mother and son and how the blurred relationship makes it so difficult for Shuggie to leave his struggling mother, the imagery is really powerful and almost every character draws empathy except for the nasty bastards that you're compelled to hate. But everyone is given a full characterisation 🎉

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

alicefaye_'s review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

marnash's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

I found this book incredibly touching, despite it's very morbid and depressing plot. Almost all of the characters were loveable, even the ones you wouldn't think could be, even the ones that loving them also includes feeling sorry for them. It's a touching and complicated tale of addiction and the way it affects the lives of the addict and the people closest to them. It's heartbreaking but such an important subject, and helps to better understand the effect of addiction on the children of the addict and their relationship. It also quite accurately depicts the cicle that addicts go through in their attempt to become/stay sober. Working with addicts in my Social Work training makes me all the more sympathetic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

bethvance's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

Minor: Death of parent and Classism

bw23's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

mj_trearty's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

 This is not an easy read but it is a very worthwhile read.

The book focuses on the Bain family, mainly Shuggie, the youngest son, and Agnes his alcoholic mother, living in 80s and early 90s Glasgow. It shows the desperation of many without work due to the mines closing and the fall of the ship building industry amongst others. What life was like in the council houses and tenements and how it was dealing with alcoholism.

The character of Shuggie does not fit in, smaller and more effeminate than other boys, he is bullied throughout his life while having to deal with hunger and desperation as his mother spent the dole and child support on cans of Special Brew. All he wants is his mum to get better and if he tries hard enough she will, in his young mind that is enough.

This is a beautifully crafted and harrowing account that brought tears to the eye on more than one occasion., definitely one of the best books I have read in years.

I think this line sums it up "the more you love someone the more they take the p**s out of that. They will do less and less of what ye want and more and more of just as the f****n' please." That is definitely how life was for Shuggie 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

allisonkirk's review against another edition

Lack of focus 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Toxic relationship

leah_grace7's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism