SHUGGIE BAIN

by Douglas Stuart

I had never heard of this book until Kathleen, a friend of a friend and a reader of L & L, wrote my editor and me an email which included her favorite recent reads.  It makes me so happy to hear from readers–and to get book recommendations.  Please, keep them coming!  

Shuggie Bain won the 2020 Booker Prize and I can understand why.  Stuart sets the novel in 1980s public housing in Glasgow, Scotland.  He develops the story of young Shuggie Bain with such exquisite detail and compassion, that I was drawn in immediately and could not stop reading. Shuggie is an awkward, sweet boy who is tormented by his peers, deserted by his philandering cabdriver father and desperately trying to keep his alcoholic mother from harm.  If it sounds like a dark premise, it is.  But the author tells the story from Shuggie’s point of view so skillfully and with such tenderness that Shuggie Bain will remain with you long after you have finished the book.  

Described on its cover as “an epic portrayal of a working-class family,”Shuggie Bainpossesses such power and is told with such deftness that I was reminded ofA Little Lifeby Hanya Yanagihara. The two books exhibit similar levels of intensity, scope and compassion. I highly recommend that you read this book. (Liz)