Play Book Tag discussion

Shuggie Bain – Douglas Stuart
Digital audiobook performed by Angus King
5*****

Stuart’s debut work explores the impoverished working-class families of 1980s Glasgow. The Bain family lives in public housing and struggles to make ends meet even with the assistance they’re given. Shuggie (Hugh) is the youngest child of Agnes, and much of the story focuses on his efforts to understand and deal with his mother’s alcoholism and depression. His father opted for divorce, and his two older siblings have pretty much left the nest, so it is the tender, kind, lonely Shuggie who is left to deal with his mother.

Oh, my heart breaks for this child. He is so tender and loving, so devoted to his mother, so trusting and naïve, and so worldly and responsible. The burden he carries is far too heavy for his small shoulders.

The novel opens in 1992, with a 16-year-old Shuggie struggling to make it on his own – out of school, working parttime at a supermarket (where he gets a discount on dented cans of fish), and living in a flop house where he is preyed upon by older men. Stuart then takes the reader back a decade to witness the child’s tender years.

Agnes is a complicated woman. She has dreams and ambitions and is tenacious about keeping herself, her children and her house clean and as fashionable as possible. Shuggie learns these lessons well; he helps her with her hair, makes sure his shoes are polished and his clothes pressed. The taunts of the children in his neighborhood do not phase him, for he knows his worth. But Agnes is an alcoholic and alcohol will ruin her life. Stuart makes the reader privy to the most intimate details of their lives, This makes their descent all the more painful to watch. There is no neat happy ending here, but there is some hope for Shuggie.

Angus King does a marvelous job of narrating the audio book. He sets a good pace and really brings these characters to life.


LINK to my review

It's going on my list! Glasgow has a modern - and yet rough and tumble reputation, and this book seems to fit it well. Although I may not read it until I actually get to Glasgow. I hope to get there next year and like to read books set in the location I am travelling to.

Thanks for the thoughtful review!

Great review! Read this recently and completely agree that he did such a great job bringing Shuggie and Agnes to life. Such vibrant people in such awful circumstances.

My hold has just come in on this, and I'm really looking forward to reading it.