Shuggie Bain

I haven't read all of the Booker shortlisted books but from the nominated books I have read, Shuggie Bain is in a different league. Set in Glasgow in the 1980s through to the 1990s, this novel is a Bildungsroman that follows protagonist Shuggie Bain's journey from childhood into young adulthood. While Shuggie, raised in poverty and squalor battles with his homosexual identity in a homophobic era. He also has to contend with his mums spiralling alcoholism from a very young age.

This novel is confrontational and hard hitting. It doesn't shy away from the brutal and destructive nature of alcoholism and it's detrimental affect on close family members. This was one of the most heartbreaking and soul wrenching books I have read in years. Shuggie is a beautiful and loyal character who loves his mother Agnes and desperately and ultimately fruitlessly tries to keep his mother from the devil drink. Poignant and raw and littered with the authentic Glaswegian working class vernacular, this book is searing with the heartbreak of addiction, poverty and the complicated relationship each character battles between survival and love.

I would be over the moon for this to be the 2020 Booker winner as it is so honest and heartfelt as well as extremely haunting and painful to read. For a debut this book is incredibly impressive and I cannot wait to see what this author will write next.

Thanks to the author, the publishers Grove Press and Netgalley for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.