Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

19 reviews

georgie_mb's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-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

Heartbreaking. I physically ached at certain points for these characters. 

I was absolutely hooked from start to finish, and I’m kind of sad to be done with it. It feels like I’m mourning someone, and I just want to keep hearing about Shuggie. 

Highly recommend the audiobook version too!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Rape, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Fire/Fire injury

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

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

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

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

linzipop's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury

danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Pedophilia and Fire/Fire injury

feebles640's review against another edition

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Blood

Minor: Drug use and Fire/Fire injury

raisinflakies's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Racism, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

naomiwhit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, and Vomit

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

greypaperboats's review against another edition

dark 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

This is one of the best, most heartbreaking books I've read in a long while. The characters are written with such compassionate clarity. They've found a home in my heart. There is not much I can respond with except that I'll be carrying this story with me, hoping that if anyone has Shuggie's heart it should be everyone or no one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment