I bought this book after it won a 2020 book prize & it didn’t disappoint. It’s a fantastic read! Hooked from the start. The story follows a young boy and his family in poverty, his mothers love of alcohol and his relationship with her. It’s really upsetting at parts but the writer does a brilliant job of keeping you reading. It’s a brilliant, honest, heart aching story. Highly recommend.

I read this book as it was the Booker Prize winner for 2020, otherwise I don’t think I would’ve picked it up but I’m so so glad that I did. This is a challenging but stunning coming of age story that truly portrays the Thatcherism ridden settings of 1980s working-class Glasgow, a story of a mother and son trying to survive. I’ll admit it I typically don’t read books like this because I can’t bear such relentless negativity and dreariness no matter how ‘good’ the story is, especially when you know that the ending is not going to be ‘fantastically happy’ (the book starts of with a chapter set in the ‘present’ and then from the second chapter onwards, it jumps back 11/12 yrs back in time and tells the story of him growing up until it reaches present day again in the last chapter) - it’s not a cliff-hanger, nor an entirely negative ending but its just not necessarily a cathartic happy ending either. Despite its dreariness, it’s utterly compelling. We never really see the characters, especially the main two: Shuggie and his mother Agnes, not struggling as when the story starts Agnes is already well in the grips of alcoholism and Shuggie as a young boy already sees his chaotic family as the norm and yet despite this life becomes even more challenging for them over a decade. Yet there’s something so captivating about his Shuggie, his innate innocence and desire to do good and hope for the best for everyone. As a result of this, we also are constantly rooting for his mother Agnes. Although we rarely see her not struggling with drink, low self-esteem, her environment and the judgement by her peers we still want the best for her and get to know her as a fully developed person. This is particularly aided by when we get to know more about her history, her parents’ history and the traumas in her background that contributed to her psyche as an adult as well as the socio-economic circumstances of 1980s Glasgow. With Shuggie we see an innocent boy who already himself at a young age knows that he is different from everyone else, helped by the fact that everyone else around him can see it too and constantly bombard him with this fact. And yet he is still so desperate to be loved by them, be himself but slowly bit by bit that pureness is chipped away at. Another element of why it’s so sad for us but we can’t put the book down is because even if cam’t relate to every single thing that he goes through, having happened to us too, we are likely to have experienced at least one or two of the difficult experiences he goes through. But this boy has to deal with it all: the Thatcher era decimating his city, an unstable family life, domestic violence, emotional abuse, unsafe living arrangements, absent parents (both physically and emotionally), addiction, being abandoned by his older siblings too, forced to care for his mother as a child and forced to hide his true self due to bullying. Despite it all he still has hope, especially that his mother will recover from her addiction and that they’ll live a relatively normal & stable life. The innocent sensitivity that he possesses is just so endearing and almost transferred into being my own too as I started to constantly hope that there would be a positive end in sight for him. I have heard some people say that it’s too repetitive & negative; that you can capture the ‘same effect’ but with less words, however I strongly disagree. Part of the reason that the book's effect has been impressive & captivating is because it actually accurately portrays issues such as alcoholism, a destroyed economy, bullying etc; those kind of things don’t end overnight and part of the reason that they are so traumatising is that they just drag on and on. Yes, perhaps the book could have been shorter and less negative but then I don’t think the author would have truly depicted these topics so truthfully. The fact that he did so and managed to make is a hauntingly beautiful text is an absolute testament to him. I’ve read that it is a semi-auto-biographical work and that it took him many years to write it, which certainly comes through in the text. It is absolutely a labour of love and a dedication to the surroundings that he grew up in. This is definitely a difficult read in terms of you needing to be in a positive head-space in order to read it and do some self-care afterwards, so that the lingering dreariness doesn’t affect your mood. But it’s absolutely deserving of being the Book Prize winner of 2020, and I’m so glad that I spent the time that I did reading and thinking about this book!

This book is tough but it is at the same time a great book. It is well written and I could really feel as though I was part of the story. I would love a sequel to see what happens to Shuggie as he ages. Well recommended.

Shuggie Bain, you will never ever leave me. What a book. Douglas Stuart you are a wonder, how on EARTH is this a debut? Stuart’s intensity and fluidity within his words is just utterly captivating. Shuggie and Agnes’s story is one that will stay with me forever. I think there is very little I can truly say about this, except I’m begging you to read this. It is absolutely fantastic and the truth of it and how Glasgow was in that time just breaks my heart over and over again. I just had to sit for a while after I finished that last page and stare at a blank wall. The horrid thing is you see the end, all the way from the start, you can see the end creeping up on you - just like Shuggie did - and you do not know how it is going to hurt you until it stabs you right in the heart. This is gorgeous. This is devastating. Please read it.

This book was mentioned on Sky Arts Bookclub . I bought it on that recommendation. From page 10 I was hooked by Agnes and her family. I hated, admired , respected and really hated her throughout. After I read it I googled Douglas Stewart the author. His background had a similar thread to young Shuggie. I really nearly cried many times. I wish my bookclub wasn’t closed at this time to rave out the book. It’s going to be hard to follow