Shuggie Bain

 

Whew.

This one.

I know it's one of the best books of last year. I know it's powerful and important and gut-wrenching. I knew it going in, yet it still put me off enough that I almost couldn't finish.

Maybe it's the times we're living in (I was reading this book right around the time of the insurrection and subsequent fallout.) Maybe what I needed was something lighter to get me through. In the weeks since I finished, I can see this book in a more favorable light. But, it was nearly too depressing to recommend.

Shuggie Bain's story is of a young man living the hardest life. His mom is poor, single, an alcoholic. He is questioning everything about himself that makes him different. Their life in Scotland is beyond pulling out of, it seems, and though you root for Shuggie's mom to save him (and save herself), you ultimately know she will fail.

This book is about family and addiction and mental illness and poverty. About sexual abuse and domestic violence and the children trapped in the middle. The writing and plot are perfectly executed, but I just couldn't keep myself from looking away.

Maybe in another time in history (no pandemic, no winter, no political unrest), I could relax and focus on what makes a book like this so powerful. Right now, though, I should have left it up on the shelf.