Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

38 reviews

fionamclary's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-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

5.0

Shuggie Bain depicts the ugly details of alcoholism with deep compassion. It's an emotional journey of rage, despair, indignation, grief, and flickers of hope. I don't quite know what else to say about it that others haven't already said better, just that it gave me an intimate window into many worlds which I had previously known little or nothing of.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Minor: Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Racism, and Fire/Fire injury

drskaninchen's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Infidelity, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Body horror, Misogyny, and Blood

munchanchan's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

lgtl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

A heartbreaking beautifully written story that explores alcoholism, queerness, harassment and overall, life’s struggles in working class 1980s Glasgow. I wish I could give a hug to Shuggie. 

A new favorite! 💔

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

melwheelz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Abandonment

ceola'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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Suicide attempt

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

bethtrigg's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

stephh's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I really wasn't sure I'd enjoy this - everyone said it was an incredibly depressing read, and the list of trigger warnings is one of the longest ones I've ever seen. HOWEVER, I found that, although the book is bleak it isn't a miserable read by any means, and some of the content the trigger warnings were there for wasn't graphic at all.

Shuggie's a young boy in the early 80s living in Glasgow just after Thatcher has closed the mines. His mother Agnes is an alcoholic and, despite Shuggie's best efforts, they live a tumultuous life together with his grandparents, father and older brother and sister. We watch Shuggie grow up across the book and learn to navigate a world that's stacked against him throughout his childhood.

I feel like I can't do justice to just how good this book was. It's given me one of the biggest book hangovers I've ever had, and has been all I can think about for a good week now. I found that, although the book was dark and gloomy, there was always a thread of hope running through it keeping you going. I'm not usually a fan of a book where a lot of the main characters are flawed, but this one was so incredibly well written that I loved following the entire Bain family. I can't wait to read Young Mungo now, and see if that lives up to the lofty heights of this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

knowledgeable_but_stupid's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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

4.0

It was a wonderful book, in my opinion. I immediately bought this one after reading Young Mungo. He writes so vividly that I can imagine every scene and use his descriptions to fill in the blanks in my mind in a most natural way. A lot of topics were the same as in Young Mungo, but this one touched more on the perspective of the alcoholic mother and it was written as more of a life story. The repetition compared to the other book made it feel a bit predictable at times, but to be fair, this one was his first novel. Maybe I should’ve read them in the correct order. I enjoyed the way he described bad things in a good way and good things in a bad way. It’s like he doesn’t try to make his work “fancy” like many writers do. Last point is that I expected the phonetically written dialogues to be difficult to read, but this wasn’t the case at all. Again, it’s a very naturally written story and it was great to be able to immerse myself in it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Blood, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment