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maddb_96's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Sexual assault, Addiction, Violence, Rape, and Alcoholism
mikom10's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Bullying, Homophobia, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Drug abuse, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Infidelity, and Rape
sjclay122's review
- 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
Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Rape, Suicide attempt, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Addiction, and Mental illness
sallyworfolk's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia
leastsquares's review against another edition
- 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
3.25
Graphic: Bullying, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Sexual assault, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, and Suicide attempt
mashedpotatoandsaladcream's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Sexism, Drug use, Pedophilia, Cursing, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Bullying, Cancer, Classism, Rape, Death of parent, Homophobia, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Blood, Hate crime, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, and Death
stephh's review against another edition
- 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
Shuggie's a young boy in the early 80s living in Glasgow just after Thatcher has closed the mines. His mother Agnes is an alcoholic and, despite Shuggie's best efforts, they live a tumultuous life together with his grandparents, father and older brother and sister. We watch Shuggie grow up across the book and learn to navigate a world that's stacked against him throughout his childhood.
I feel like I can't do justice to just how good this book was. It's given me one of the biggest book hangovers I've ever had, and has been all I can think about for a good week now. I found that, although the book was dark and gloomy, there was always a thread of hope running through it keeping you going. I'm not usually a fan of a book where a lot of the main characters are flawed, but this one was so incredibly well written that I loved following the entire Bain family. I can't wait to read Young Mungo now, and see if that lives up to the lofty heights of this.
Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Vomit, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Pedophilia
butlerebecca's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Addiction, Death of parent, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, and Pedophilia
nessidy's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Vomit, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Violence, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Excrement, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Rape
doramag's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Violence, Sexual violence, Rape, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, and Death of parent