Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Shuggie Bain

This was such a depressing and difficult book to read, however it was an important one. The power alcohol has over someone especially someone who is trying to escape sadness is truly heartbreaking. The awful men and boys who abused Shuggie and Agnes and the lack of support Agnes had. The false hope they were all given when Agnes had been sober for a year to only be let down by Eugene peer pressuring her to drink into another spiral. The strength and heartbreak Link and Catherine both had to escape and try make something of themselves but leave behind their mum and Shuggie. This really was a tough read which had an endless cycle of tragedy.

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hilaryreadsbooks's review against another edition

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i’m not ready to let go of shuggie & agnes just like the way shuggie will never be able to let go of agnes. shuggie danced his way into my heart—his softness, his vulnerability, his big words and big love. “what good was a soft boy in a hard world?” shuggie’s half-brother scornfully thinks, but in a way shuggie’s softness is what keeps him alive in this hard world.

there is a scene where shuggie gives in to the way his body aches to move. he dances and dances just to see a smile stretch across his mother’s face. he is, as described, “helpless to stop it”: it’s a part of him, this musicality. and then he looks out the window to see his neighbors laughing & jeering at him, and he falters, but agnes tells him to hold his head high, to keep dancing. and he does. he keeps dancing. stuart throws hardship after hardship, heartbreak after heartbreak, person after person who doesn’t understand shuggie’s softness at this big-hearted boy. and somehow he keeps dancing.

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kobra's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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introverted_reads's review against another edition

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challenging emotional 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

4.25

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danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

This book is really fucking good. I had read Douglas Stuart’s second novel “Young Mungo” before I read this one and liked it a lot. But this was another level. And I’m glad I didn’t read it before “Young Mungo” because I think I would’ve compared the two and I perhaps wouldn’t have enjoyed his second novel quite as much as I did.

Through the lens of a young queer boy being raised by, and more often taking care of, his alcoholic mother, we explore themes of poverty and addiction.

This book will break your heart… so, of course I loved it. The storytelling is impeccable. The characters are beautifully drawn. Its emotionality burns bright on every page. I highly recommend it.

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