Shuggie Bain
The Million-Copy Bestseller & Winner of the Booker Prize
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4.4 • 932 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the Booker Prize
Winner of 'Book of the Year' and 'Debut of the Year' at the British Book Awards
The Million-Copy Bestseller
'An amazingly intimate, compassionate, gripping portrait of addiction, courage and love.' – The judges of the Booker Prize
'Shuggie Bain means so much to me. It is such a powerfully written story . . . I love a heartbreak book but there is so much love within this one, particularly between Shuggie and his mother Agnes.' – Dua Lipa
It is 1981. Glasgow is dying and good families must grift to survive. Agnes Bain has always expected more from life, dreaming of greater things. But Agnes is abandoned by her philandering husband, and as she descends deeper into drink, her children try their best to save her, yet one by one they must abandon her to save themselves.
It is her son Shuggie who holds out hope the longest. Shuggie is different, he is clearly no’ right. But Shuggie believes that if he tries his hardest, he can be normal like the other boys and help his mother escape this hopeless place.
Shuggie Bain lays bare the ruthlessness of poverty, the limits of love, and the hollowness of pride. For readers of A Little Life and Angela's Ashes, it is a heartbreaking novel by a brilliant writer with a powerful and important story to tell.
'Douglas Stuart has written a first novel of rare and lasting beauty.' – The Observer
'A heartbreaking novel' – The Times
'Tender and unsentimental . . . The Billy Elliot-ish character of Shuggie . . . leaps off the page.' – Daily Mail
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Scottish-American author Douglas Stuart’s Booker Prize-winning novel is an extraordinary debut. Inspired by his own mother’s battle with addiction, Stuart takes us to Glasgow in 1981 where poverty and addiction grip the city. Our eponymous hero is the youngest son of Agnes Bain—an alcoholic mother-of-three left by her violent second husband in an impoverished mining town. While Shuggie’s older siblings eventually secure their exits through marriage and art, he is determined to save his mother and secure better futures for them both. Stuart captures the harshest realities of Thatcher-era Britain with an intensity you can almost smell and taste and he writes about the pain of addiction and sexual prejudices with a rawness that is at times unsettling. But this book is proof that there’s often joy to be found in even the most hopeless of places. Shuggie is one of 2020’s most unforgettable literary characters: his pride, self-worth, snootiness, humour and courage leaping from each page.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Stuart's harrowing debut follows a family ravaged by addiction in Glasgow during the Thatcher era. Agnes Bain yearns to move Shug, her taxi-driving, "selfish animal" of a second husband, and three children out of the tiny apartment they share with her parents in Glasgow in 1981. Shug secures them a council flat, but when they arrive he leaves them in a flurry of violence, blaming Agnes's drinking. While Agnes's daughter, Catherine, escapes the misery of Agnes's alcoholism and the family's extreme poverty by finding a husband, and her older son, Leek, retreats into making art, Hugh (nicknamed "Shuggie" after his absent father) assumes responsibility for Agnes's safety and happiness. As the years pass, Shuggie suffers cruelty over his effeminate personality and endures sexual violence. He eventually accepts that he's gay; meanwhile, Agnes finds some hope by entering A.A., landing a job, and dating another taxi driver named Eugene, but she later backslides. As Shuggie and his mother attempt to improve their lives, they are bound not just by one another but also to the U.K.'s dire economic conditions. While the languid pace could have benefited from condensing, there are flashes of deep feeling that cut through the darkness. This bleak if overlong book will resonate with readers.)
Customer Reviews
Riveting!
Compelling read.
Hard to read but stays with you
There were times reading this book when I had to put it down as I couldn’t bear the sadness that it brought to my heart. Shuggie is so real, as is Agnes, and the story so beautifully written that their highs and many lows affected me more than I’d ever anticipated. I don’t think this book or these characters will ever leave me. Read it, you may not ‘enjoy’ it, but you will be moved by it.
The best book I’ve read in years
It’s heart wrenching and beautiful and heavy and delicate all at once. I’m sure I’ll still be thinking about this books for years to come.