Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

30 reviews

geminisoul's review against another edition

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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was a very hard book to read in a lot of parts and really shows what alcohol can do to a family. Shuggie and his family are such characters and it's interesting to see the different ways the face the challenges in there home and community. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

lilacwhisker's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.75

Shuggie is a real one for sure 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Homophobia, Infidelity, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Racism, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Such a sad story, though an honest portrayal of alcoholism and addiction. This is about everyone who has fallen through the societal cracks and those whose resilience is more than others can handle. Shuggie is brilliant.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

elizaj's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Adult/minor relationship

foxglovefairy's review against another edition

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

4.5

Extremely sad story of alcoholism and its devastating familial, social, and economic effects. A portrayal of parenting your parent and the love and strength it takes to never give up on those whose present and futures are wrought with addiction. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

pinksy's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Sad
Beautifully told
Hard hitting
Complicated
Complex 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

katierobertsonshaddix's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective 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, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

satinnite's review against another edition

Just couldn't get into it. It is very graphic and dark. By the first chapter you have paedophilia, abuse, drugs and prostitution. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Alcohol

mashedpotatoandsaladcream'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

if you hate a bleak and depressing read then you’ll hate this, however if you do like those kind of books you’ll probably love this. 

it mainly follows shuggies relationship with his mother as he grows from 5-15 watching and caring for his mother as his siblings draw away, forced or willing, as she falls into alcoholism and poverty in 1980s scotland -not only does he struggle with this but he also has to struggle with being an effeminate and seemingly clearly gay kid during a time rampant with homophobia and strict acceptance on what a man should act like. it does have a major list of trigger warning so look at them first if needed but although i said the book is depressing -it almost doesn’t feel that way when you read it. like yes it’s sad and it’s hard reading it at parts and yes it starts sad and ends slightly less sad and i think there’s only like a year period of his life when things are actually happy? but the way he’s written the scenes feels different to me. certain scenes will strick for me (the dancing scene, eugene and the fancy meal with agnes, etc) but the characters just had character and they felt like people to me. 

one of these being agnes herself someone who annoyed me so much with how she’d seemed to never try to get better for the kids she seemed to genuinely care for but alcohol seemed to just matter more in its control over her and yet even as she lived in pitshead and all of what happened she still had a pride that was almost inspiring if it didn’t mean it would only lead to her drinking more and pushing her kids away. 

and yet when he’s young she relies on him so much that as he grows up we barely ever know anything about him as a person, there were few scenes where shuggie was just shuggie and his identity revolved around his mother -that you wouldn’t know something happened to him until it was referenced once in his narration when with his mother and yet at the end he’s changed and he finally has a friend -something he never had during the rest of the book, in fact most would be shown once and no longer appear and yet by the end he actually calls them a friend. 

anyway it’s a good choice if you like a bleak read and i’d recommend for that but not really if you hate them because you’ll just hate this even more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Blood, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

nmhealey28's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

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

5.0

This book broke me !
All of the characters, with the exception of Shuggie really, are flawed and chaotic, and all impact the life of the little boy ! Real, rare and impactful, this book is a slog but so worthwhile ! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Alcohol