Shuggie Bain: a book review

Book author: Douglas Stuart

This, is the classic of the 20th century.

Shuggie Bain is the story of a boy named Shuggie set in 1980’s Glasgow. It’s also the story of Agnes Bain, Shuggie’s mother. Agnes is a mother of three. She is the kind of pretty woman typical men want to flirt with, with a drink or two they want to do more than flirt. 

Agnes seemed so dismantled. She was an alcoholic. Reading her, sometimes I felt, it’s not alcohol, it’s her pride that’s killing her. Like you can’t describe Agnes without cans of lagers or special brew, you can’t also picture her without a display of thick pride.

We see Shuggie's childhood shaping up, raised by an alcoholic mother and a father whose face he can’t remember. Pain and love joins this story as Shuggie looks after her mother, each time hoping she would be better soon. Shuggie has two elder siblings, each looking forward to an exit to a place of their own. Leek, his elder brother, had a standalone image.

I would be so astonished if the story was not lived by the author himself. How can you write so beautifully, with such intimate details without living the story yourself. I could picture 1980’s Glasgow, from Sighthill to Pithead without any curbs. The characters felt so present. 

The author goes deep into the details. Deep enough to hear a character breathe, but short enough to make it unlike dragging old classics. Without even hearing the terms before, like a historian I can tell about the taxi rank of the then Glasgow, drivers with their black hackneys wearing money belts. Tiring coal workers spending their time after shifts in the pub. I can picture it all. I can picture Agnes opening a can of Special Brew with her painted nails, the drink hissing while she is dialing the taxi rank to get Shug Bain on the  line.

I LOVED the local accent through the pages. It made the story more articulate. The accent reminded me of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, another novel set in Glasgow that stole my heart in one go. And the intimacy in this book reminded me of another Booker winner The God of Small Things, another book that took my heart, where the author Arundhati Roy kinda lived that story herself. Well, Booker winners are my plate then!

Shuggie Bain will remain a classic of this time, with its deeply personal articulation.