Shuggie Bain Review: NYT Readers' Choice List

A MILD BACKTRACK AND CHANGE OF PLANS

I am not one to give up… HOWEVER

Listen, I was mildly impulsive in my plan to read all 100 books from the NYT Readers’ Choice list. I did not account for the faults in it. First, that this list is mildly plagued by faults of human nature, such as recency bias or the influx of books that were made into movies and thus feel a little questionable at times in their rank. Second, I was in a bookstore with my girlfriend. She pointed to a book and said, Hey, isn’t that on your list? Why yes, darling, it sure is. The issue? We were in the non-fiction section!! It did not occur to me that we may be seeing non-fiction on this list. LISTEN!! I am an open-minded gal and have technically already read some of the non-fiction from this list (Just Mercy, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks) but ladies and gentlemen it is just not my cup of tea. I did not undertake this “challenge” with it in mind to read a thick book on the history of homosapiens. Non, merci. 

Considering how I’d also like to read from the Booker shortlist(s), Tiktok recommendations, and book club picks among other routes, I’m blanching at the thought of committing to this list in areas that I didn’t really consider or desire. SO! I will be continuing this series and continue to read from the list, but with some tweaks. I will be prioritizing the novels that overlap both the readers’ choice and the critics’ choice NYT lists, and then handpicking as I please after the fact. I feel less trapped by this new route and a lot more eager as I get to pick what comes next based on mood as well as rank. I hope you’ll stick around despite these changes to the “challenge.” I will be reading books outside this list as well, and would love to share my thoughts on those when the time comes. 

Now, onto the good stuff. 

SHUGGIE BAIN REVIEW

I sit to write this review immediately after finishing the novel and a box of tissues alongside it. I cannot think of a better time to write about such a harrowing, important, masterfully-made piece. To be so honest; this was not the best reading experience. Trudging through the middle meat of this novel was mildly painful, but oddly I feel that this is part of what makes up this masterpiece. This novel is not one of the 39 books that overlaps both the readers’ choice and the critics’ choice list. 

We follow Shuggie Bain, youngest of 3 children to an alcoholic mother, Agnes. For most of the novel they find themselves in the Pithead, a rundown, isolated section of government housing in Scotland. And it is truly harrowing and heartbreaking and gutpunching to stumble through childhood along Shuggie who acts as his mothers last believer. He faces relentless abuse for his femininity when broaching the outside world, but when consumed by his internal life, as he is often, he is forced to contend with a mother who can’t put down her Special Brew, who must be guarded so as not to stumble somewhere dangerous or be taken advantage of by neighbors or men, who often tries to end her life despite the lives that so heavily rely on the mere parenting she does provide. Shuggie’s oldest sibling, Catherine, is out on her own, leaving just his older brother, Leek, and himself. Leek half heartedly fights against his mothers disease, but the brunt of fighting off her demons is often left to Shuggie as Leek hides away, either within himself or some unknown hideaway. 

If you’re looking for hope in the general public, dear god this is not the place. The amount of cruelty enacted by strangers of all demographics caused lip-curling disgust. 

spoiler/analysis section 

Shug, Shuggie’s father and namesake, is despicable and just the perfect picture of a narcissistic, selfish, scheming man whose seemingly only purpose is to drain the life from the women he is meant to love. I’ve recently dealt with a man quite similar, and he was written so spot-on it was almost eerie. Charming till they're cruel, abiding until they eat you alive, haunting you long after your tryst ends despite how little they truly offered upon reflection.  He lures Agnes with visions of wonderful suburbia, uprooting her and the children from her parents’ house (and support) to the isolated Pithead, just to announce his departure right as her bags are unpacked. He serves as a random specter of spite and disappointment throughout, remaining a sort of obsession for poor Agnes after he leaves. 

“She had loved him, and he had needed to break her completely to leave her for good. Agnes Bain was too rare a thing to let someone else love. It wouldn’t do to leave pieces of her for another man to collect and repair later.” Shuggie Bain, 110.

In my eyes this is when we really see the alcoholism take form, almost becoming a character of its own. There are certain signs to look for, certain changes in their everyday life. Agnes goes through multiple assaults in her drunken stupors. Her neighbors are incredibly unsympathetic, either cruel in their words or in their dismissal of this addiction that ruins her life, some knocking on her door only to indulge her addiction and drink alongside her. This was so stomach churning to me, the people aiding in the addiction and ignoring when the children of the home tried to turn them away. It’s just so sick, so undercutting to any hope of success for susceptible Agnes. 

Despite Agnes’ condition, she is not some pitiful or hated character (at least, not wholly) and I feel that’s truly a huge reason this novel stands so tall. We see her children struggle and starve and we see her at her lowest, all phlegm and bile, but she keeps her head up. Drunken or not, she is done up, hair curled, heels on, rouge applied.  It’s clear through her own perspective and the reactions of others that Agnes is a beautiful woman, the likes of Elizabeth Taylor. Her longing for this beauty to take her somewhere grand, to allow life to be bigger than the mundane, is so masterfully crafted, especially considering our author is a man. Agnes holds such depth, her deep longing and her bouts of tenderness are tells of a woman with dreams she can’t navigate, with love she misplaces. The contrast between her drunken mishaps and her polished exterior are telling of the life young Shuggie leads. He is both tended to and forgotten, well-spoken and a truant, supported but so very alone. 

His journey as the son of an alcoholic mother is not enough, as he also navigates his sexuality, signs of which appeared long before he was even old enough to feel any sort of sexual desire. It's not  until nearing the end that we even see any signs of attraction towards the opposite sex, but he faces cruelty for this “crime” long before it’s committed. Shuggie is also a victim in sexual situations. I won’t delve further here, but the novel doesn’t shy away from describing these instances. 

In Agnes’ one-year remission from the drink, we find a level of sweet peace rarely granted in this novel. Later Eugene, a boyfriend, ruins this, but it’s so darling while it lasts. There’s a pivotal scene where, I believe on Christmas, Agnes asks Shuggie to dance for her. And he does, freely, feminine and all. The neighbors across the street, the relentless bullying children, see him through the window and are laughing. He freezes, says he can’t go on. But Agnes, in a rare sighting of her being there for him rather than vice versa, insists. This is where he sees a beauty in his mother, an appreciation that in spite of all the things she’s not, she is unyielding and proud. To me, it was a beautiful staging of her love for her boy, who she never really treated as strange or wrong in his flamboyance. 

“She was no use at maths homework and some days you could starve rather than get a hot meal from her, but Shuggie looked at her now and understood this was where she excelled. Everyday with the make-up on and her hair done, she climbed out of her grave and held her head high.” - Shuggie Bain, 268. 

spoilers end

There are so many layers to this novel, I’ve just touched the surface. It was a difficult read, I have to admit. The themes at play were relentless, each page-turn a new nightmare. The author also used phonetic spelling of the Scottish accent while writing dialogue, and sometimes it was a bit spotty to follow, but it didn’t trip me up too much, though you could find difficulty if unfamiliar with the accent. (Side note, but I’d sometimes find myself speaking in a Scottish accent after reading for a while.) There were random instances where the accent was written outside of dialogue, in the narration text, which was a bit odd since it felt random and thus out of place. And of course, as I mentioned earlier, there are parts where this novel drags a bit, but to me it feels so important as it forces you to really suffer alongside this exhausting babysitting of Shuggie’s mother and all the horrors they face. I wouldn’t say it’s an enjoyable read, but an important one. 

From my own experiences that at times uncannily mimicked those in the novel, I do recommend this novel but with a heavy warning label. It is so well-done and true-to-life, all the complexities and terrors and glimmers of hope and moments of intimacy and failures, that it can be difficult at times to digest the content and remain in a good headspace. Still, it would be a crime to underrate this piece because of its content when it is truly unbelievable in its execution. 

This is a 5-star for me. Unforgettable and so well-done.