Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

111 reviews

katlouisee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Self harm, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Homophobia

Minor: Excrement

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

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: Alcohol, Drug use, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Self harm, and Rape

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

aw_katie's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Sexual harassment, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Addiction, Sexual assault, Blood, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Sexual violence, Bullying, Rape, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Homophobia, Classism, Vomit, Self harm, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, and Hate crime

madread8's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Death, Grief, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Cursing, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Bullying, and Domestic abuse

smcmullan79's review against another edition

challenging 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Racism, Homophobia, and Self harm

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

bookshelfhannah'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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcohol, Homophobia, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

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: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Rape, Alcoholism, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Child death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Misogyny, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury

imlfox's review against another edition

challenging 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Self harm, Death of parent, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Bullying, Classism, and Medical content