Review

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THE PARIS LIBRARY By Janet Skeslien Charles The New York Times bestseller, inspired by the true story of the librarians at the American Library in Paris who risked their lives during the Nazis’ war on words.

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FLASH JIM By Kel Richards The astonishing story of the convict fraudster who wrote Australia’s first dictionary

A BOOK LOVER’S REVIEW BY JACQUI SERAFIM

Shuggie Bain

by Douglas Stuart

Shuggie Bain is an insightful story of poverty and addiction which portrays the heartrending relationship between a sensitive young boy and his alcoholic mother. Set against a backdrop of 1980s Glasgow amid the dying wasteland of the mining and shipbuilding industries, it brings to life the harsh realities of a country destroyed by unemployment and whole communities struggling to survive on government benefits with no hope for the future.

In 1981, Agnes Bain is an ageing beauty, living with her philandering, abusive husband and her three children in her parents’ council flat. Dissatisfied with the boredom and misery of her life, she escapes by drinking to excess. When her husband, “Big Shug Bain” moves the family to a destitute mining village outside Glasgow and then abandons them, she descends ever further into alcoholism. It is her children that suffer the most, constantly neglected, abused and left hungry. They fend for themselves and each other and are forced to witness her progressive deterioration into alcoholism and her increasing vulnerability to abusive men. The older two children, Catherine and Leek, escape as soon as possible. But Shuggie, much younger than the other two, is forced to stay and care for his mother alone: cashing the pension and trying to save some of the money for food from her voracious thirst for alcohol.

Shuggie doesn’t belong in this rough world of working-class Glasgow with its dying shipyards and mining industries. Bullied mercilessly for his correct speech and “prissy” manner, threatened and abused by adults and children alike, he is lonely and isolated. It is clear to him and to others that he is “no’ right” or “normal” and he tries to mask his effeminacy by changing his walk and his clothes. In his isolation, he stays close to his mother, caring for her and always hoping that she will get “better”. He cleans up her vomit, changes her clothes and tries to distract her from constantly dressing up to go out drinking. His constant love and care for her is a heartrending portrait of the relationship between a child and a parent lost to addiction.

This is a bleak but touching novel. Despite the grim circumstances in which the siblings are raised, there is love and connection between them. Agnes’ charm and charisma is still evident even as she spirals ever downward. Her pride in her appearance and in keeping her home in order is sad and sympathetic. Shuggie’s dogged perseverance in caring for his mother is heroic in the face of the daily threats he faces as a young, lonely boy alone in a hostile, violent world.

Douglas Stuart is clear that the novel is a work of fiction which draws on his own experiences. He grew up in Glasgow’s public housing with an alcoholic mother and was orphaned at 16 years old. Now a successful fashion designer, Stuart wrote the novel over a period of ten years and submitted it to 32 publishers before it was accepted. This debut novel is the Winner of the 2020 Booker Prize for Fiction.