I thought this was brilliant and well-deserving of the Booker prize it won in 2020.
A very grim novel set in Glasgow in the 1980s. The central figure is the alcoholic mother of three, Agnes Bain. Shuggie is her youngest son and eternally hopeful that she will conquer her alcoholism, and that they will begin to be able to live a ‘normal' life. But this doesn’t happen.
The chapters are quite episodic and each could almost be a short story in its own right. Some, if not most, are quite grim. Shuggie is constantly teased about being a "poofter" and it is not 100% clear whether or not he is gay, as I believe the author is. But for most of the book, he is too young to understand or act on this.
Towards the end, around the time Agnes dies, he meets a girl with an equally alcoholic mother who begins to reconcile him to the situation. Very good indeed.
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