A review by artemisg
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

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

4.0

 This book is a very sad, bleak read, but so so good. It follows a poverty-stricken family living in council housing in Thatcher-era Scotland. Now, I was not alive in Thatcher’s time, and I’m not from the United Kingdom, so don’t have a particularly intimate understanding of the political climate of the book, but the combination of my limited knowledge of the era and its consequences, and the state of the ex-mining settlement in this novel, I can come to some conclusions. I understand that this book paints an unfortunately accurate picture of the state of lower- and working-class households at that time. It also paints a heartbreakingly accurate and multi-faceted picture of living with alcoholism, whether that be being the addicted, being the child of the addiction, or simply being surrounded by it. 
 
"Don't make the same mistake as me. She's never going to get better. When the time is right you have to leave. The only thing you can save is yourself." 
 
The story primarily centres around the relationship between Agnes Bain and her youngest son, Shuggie. The other members of the family are expertly depicted and fleshed out - I have to commend Stuart for his incredible character studies, but the story is, at its’ core, a study of the relationship between Shuggie and his mother. It tackles the ideas of loving an alcoholic, being dependent on them, and then suddenly becoming their keeper. It tackles the ideas of having an incredibly insular and co-dependent relationship and how other people can sour that relationship. 
 
She'd looked as happy as he could ever remember, and he was surprised how this hurt. It was all for the red-headed man. He had done what Shuggie was unable to do. 
 
Overall, this is a story about hard times, about needing to be someone you are not, about sacrifices and selfishness, and about how sometimes, love can't get you through everything. A truly incredible debut, beautifully written, filled with multi-faceted and sympathetic characters and complex relationships. So so good. 
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