Geeks logo

Book Review: “Shuggie Bain” by Douglas Stuart

5/5 - A brilliant debut piece and shockingly realistic

By Annie KapurPublished 4 years ago 3 min read
Like

“Shuggie Bain” by Douglas Stuart is a book about the kind of life we rarely read about in literature. It’s about the lives of those trying desperately to make ends meet in the bustling life of inner-city Glasgow. Set between the years of the early 1980s and the early 1990s, this book gives us a reason to read it. It doesn’t invite us to experience the life that Shuggie is living, but instead allows us to immerse ourselves in it, feeling what he is feeling and going where he is going. We are given an apt look at his life, starting with the man we meet working at the supermarket and then, moving back over to his childhood and more importantly, his relationship with his mother. This book is a hand in teaching us that we don’t know the lives of others upon first glance. They could be anyone, serving you in the supermarket, making your coffee at the cafe or even serving you at the checkout - we have no right to judge others without truly walking in their shoes and feeling what they are feeling. This book is a brilliantly polished example of that in practice.

We meet Shuggie in the early 1990s and he works in a supermarket. Everything is rather depressive about his situation and we as readers are invited into his world to have a look around. We see the ladies at the tills and the landlady that owns the place where Shuggie lives. Written brilliantly, we get to see a life that would rarely, if ever, get coverage in a novel. Often seen as not interesting enough, the normal working class lifestyle of a supermarket worker would be pushed aside normally in this elitist society - but here we see a man who has a life far more interesting than the middle class whom he may encounter whilst he stands behind the counter of the supermarket on a daily basis.

The family dynamics are interesting as well. As the book brings the reader back into the 1980s to when Shuggie is only a child and his mother Agnes, a heavy drinker, is both trying to be the best mother she can whilst also harbouring some intense addictions and problems of her own. This part of the book, I believe teaches us how we are made through the experiences of our main caregiver and what that influence does to us over time. As we observe that Shuggie’s mother, Agnes, is a woman of many issues, we also feel sorry for her as she is constantly misunderstood. Her capacity for the love of her children is what keeps this book going at its alarming rate towards a greater purpose. However, I do feel like sometimes, the book glosses over the darker situations. For example: the scene where the room catches fire and Agnes is calm as can be. This scene is only a few pages long in a hardback book. I would’ve appreciated more of a look into Agnes’s mental state and Shuggie’s mental state since the book is written in third person and could therefore give the reader both.

The writing towards the second half of the book is incredible. We see the young Shuggie grow up through the 90s and his mother return to sobriety at times for Christmas and such. Most importantly though, we see family secrets. Secrets that family members keep from each other. Such as the fact that Agnes couldn’t afford certain things. We get this momentary feeling near the end of the novel that Shuggie really has to decide whether he should grow up at that particular moment and let himself go wherever, or whether he should stay and look after anyone who is left. I think Shuggie made the correct decision in his place and time.

This book is a great achievement of literature. It takes us not only through a life we would normally never see but writes the story with grand detail, concentrating on the relationships, experiences and the capacity for human love that we rarely, or never get to see in novels anymore. If it were not this shake of optimism here and there, I think the novel wouldn’t have been as successful as it is.

literature
Like

About the Creator

Annie Kapur

190K+ Reads on Vocal.

English Lecturer

🎓Literature & Writing (B.A)

🎓Film & Writing (M.A)

🎓Secondary English Education (PgDipEd)

📍Birmingham, UK

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.