Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

86 reviews

annicanns's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I really loved the writing in this book.
I picked it up after reading A Little Life in hopes of finding something as emotionally exhausting as I tend to find comfort in reading books where characters have experienced similar things to me.
For the majority of this book, I was completely enticed and wrapped up in the book.
A little more than half way through, I hit a stump. I got a little bored of the same old same old in the section and had to force myself to push through in hopes for the ending to be amazing.
The ending? Amazing.

Pros: Great writing, pacing, and overall a great story
Cons: A little difficult to read at some parts because of the way the accent is spelt out, the amount of time centered around Shuggie as a boy was much much longer than I thought (I thought the book would be about him as an adult learning to cope with life after trauma from his childhood)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

novellenovels's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Vomit, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Abandonment

merle98's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

It is not often to come across a book that so brilliantly and intimately portrays the gritty realities of poverty and addiction, neither romanticising its subjects and their lives nor vilifying their actions. Would highly recommend for people in a mentally stable place.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

joydot's review against another edition

emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Minor: Racial slurs and Racism

56lispenard's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Vomit

Moderate: Physical abuse and Sexual assault

asourceoffiction's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-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

5.0

This is an utterly beautiful and bleak portrait of Shuggie's young life with his alcoholic mother, Agnes. Abandoned by father, sister and then brother, Shuggie must care for his mother through her absolute worst.

The writing is incredibly beautiful and so evocative, it creates such a real picture of the tenements and pit communities in Glasgow in the '80s; this world was completely outside of my experience but was so easy to picture. 

I quickly became invested in this broken little family, and it was very easy to hate those who would take advantage of Agnes or not help her when she needed it most while also getting so angry with Agnes herself. But what kept me from being able to put the book down was Shuggie. He is this incredible, gentle and beautiful soul and my heart broke for him on so many occasions. But it was also because of Shuggie that I still felt a ray of hope throughout the story; that his very goodness would see him through the worst hardships. I'll be thinking about him for a long time I think.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Rape, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

kycerae's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Drug abuse and Drug use

sam_w_r's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

jennadewit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

amberlovick's review

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Tw: alcoholism, paedophilia, rape, self harm and a whole load more. 

*audiobook*

This felt very reminiscent of A Little Life and was not an easy read. I felt this book was brilliantly written and I grew very attached to Shuggie. It was a very raw and explicit depiction of the era and really demonstrated how difficult peoples lives were and the vicious cycles society perpetuated. 

I would highly recommend this book, well worth the read, just read your trigger warnings first.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment