Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Shuggie Bain

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.

Content Warnings

clemencepct's review against another edition

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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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npolanchik's review against another edition

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

4.0

At its core, this is a story about a son’s unwavering love for his mother despite trauma inflicted from relapses with alcohol. It’s a very sad book and Stuart’s writing is poetic.

I wanted to read this book because of its attributes to LGBTQ+ youth. This theme ebbs throughout the book but doesn’t feel like it’s explicitly touched on - and maybe that’s the beauty of it.

At times this book feels slow, but the writing is so encapsulating, you want to continue. I see why this has such acclaim but slow plot and tons of Scottish slang that confused me didn’t make it a 5-star read for me.

Content Warnings

avareadsoccasionally's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

Really well written and heartbreaking. I thought the characters were well written and the author balanced hope and despair in a really good way. It took me a little longer to get through, but was worth it.

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writingcaia's review against another edition

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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? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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pawtory's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Honestly the most depressing thing I've ever read (maybe I Gevalia avoid that but good god). Realistic to the point of hopelessness. I know terrible people and situations exist but there was no relief here for Shuggie. I think he had a handful of people shown his life who weren't completely awful? It was well written, but if I could tell past me to skip this one I would. The content warnings are quite serious. I would only rec this book if you need to read about stuff that's so awful anything in your life will seem better in comparison...

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