Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Шъги Бейн by Джес Кулсън, Емилия Л. Масларова, Дъглас Стюарт, Иван Масларов, Мила Томанова, Калоян Игнатовски

41 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

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

kennahgracie's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

OVERALL 

Initially, my interest in this novel was slow to ignite, but the longer I stayed with its contents, the more captivated I became by Shuggie's tale. I thoroughly enjoyed Douglas Stuart's writing; he effectively described a foreign setting without bogging down the narrative with excessive detail. This novel felt stark. Like Shuggie, I was completely swept up in the wreckage that followed the abuse and alcoholism his parents brought upon their home. 

Shuggie, being the only child unable to escape the damaging wrath of his mother's addiction and subsequent neglect, is forced to form an anxious attachment to her welfare, taking up the role of the parent while his mother becomes the child. However, this toxic dynamic begins to change when Agnes starts to sober up and finally take responsibility as a parent. Tragically, this progress is painfully ripped away by the persistent influence of Eugene, a man she meets during a late-night shift.
Over and over, this book reminded me of how consumed we are with our own thoughts as human beings. We are so conscious of others' ideals and perceptions of us that we allow them to destroy all that we've built. What is this pressure? This strange bleakness of alienation, of worrying that we don't fit in? More than anything, I wish we could live happily and uniquely as ourselves. I wish I lived in a world where boys like Shuggie wouldn't face constant harassment and abuse simply because of their characteristics or identity.

MAJOR TAKEAWAYS 

• First D.S novel —loved his writing and how he conveys the complexities of how domestic abuse/alcoholism affects family dynamics.
• The setting was describes so casually yet with enough detail that someone like me with little knowledge of the country’s culture/history could easily picture and understand it.
  • I also enjoyed how prominent the focus of taxi culture was.
• Effectively highlights the uncertainness common among queer youth. Before being allowed to truly understand and explore who you are, you are stunted and alienated by others immediate perceptions of your “oddity” or “differences”.
  • Many children and later teens who are LGBTQIA+ are forced to harden themselves due to the exposure of blatant homophobia from peers/society/even family. But also grapple with still wanting to be accepted/welcomed by those who perpetuate that same hate. This is our human nature, to yearn for connection and acceptance. To be "normal".
• Notably, I wish the author would've expanded further on Shuggie's life in South Side.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, and Abandonment

Minor: Cancer and Excrement

ydina's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I really wanted to like it. Especially when I heard that it was heart wrenching and somewhat like A Little Life. Maybe it's accurate about that in a sense that both of them are trauma p*rn. just missed the parts where they would talk more about Shuggies sa? Like I think this should have been significant? 

More about anything else than how many beer and vodka Agnes drinks and how deeply disgustingly obsessed she is with men. 

And it took me so long to finish. I always had to pick it up like a task or homework (which it was thanks to our book club, otherwise would've dnfed it, I fear) 

Other than that I still liked the style of writing. It did have his good parts and did make me feel pitiful every now and then. 

Especially when Shuggie was asking his mother why he wasn't enough for her. This somehow got me. But I guess children having a troubled upcoming will always get me. 

All in all I'll give it around three stars I think.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Outing, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

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

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

megb64's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-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, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Medical content, and Fire/Fire injury

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

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