Full disclosure number 1:
I didn’t grow up in Shuggie Bain’s world but I did grow up once removed.
Shuggie’s upbringing in the east end of Glasgow in no way mimicked the wonderful upbringing that my parents gave me and the catapult that they bestowed upon me to allow me to cross the chasm to a place which was beyond that which I could have dreamt of in my youth.
I did know shuggie’s though, I did go to school with some and I did go into some of those houses and it’s perhaps as a result of that, that this book has left such a mark on me as I will never forget.
Shuggie is the affectionate name that is given to males in Scotland called Hugh (I don’t know why).
Shuggie Bain is a book written by Douglas Stuart. He grew up in the east end of Glasgow and then managed to go to art school after which he managed to get to New York and become a fashion designer.
This is his first go at writing a book. It took years and thirty two attempts at speaking to a publisher (there is a lesson in that) until it was accepted and then obviously went on to win the Booker Prize last year.
Full disclosure number 2:
I’m not clever enough or ‘arty’ enough to read Booker Prize winners or nominees but this book was bought for me by Alison as a birthday present because of the geography of the subject.
This is not an easy read and if you read what I’ve written here and think you’re going to buy it, then understand that it comes with a health warning and it’s not designed to make you happy (certainly not happy through most of the story).
It’s set in the east end of Glasgow and if you have never been exposed to proper poverty then you will never understand the content of the book and think that it is written in pure fiction when in fact it is a representation of fact.
I have been in those houses and I have met those people, not only when I was growing up but also when I was working as an NHS dental practitioner in Ilkeston and Bilborough in Nottingham where I would go to peoples houses to make their dentures and be amazed and horrified that still in this time, people live in such conditions.
Shuggie Bain centres around Shuggie and his mother Agnes Campbell-Bain (no relation!).
Agnes is an alcoholic.
Reading Agnes’s story brought back so much emotion and shame and so many memories and fears from many aspects of my life which is why the book will be like a tattoo on my forearm that I’ll see forever and ever I think.
If I was going to get deep into the English like I was writing about this book for an A-Level, I would talk about the imagery of false teeth or the Monday and Tuesday ‘books’ (the paperwork that was used to collect the benefit money) or the pit, the mine that had closed down close to where Agnes and Shuggie had to live with his brother Leek or any number of images throughout the book that represented different things.
I’m not clever enough for that, it’s just the most heartfelt piece of fiction about a place that was 25 miles from where I grew up and about 3 miles from where I went to dental school (at the same time).
I walked past Shuggie and Agnes in the street in Glasgow as a student.
I drove past their house countless times.
I saw the high-rise flats from the motorway.
Essentially this is a love story between a mother and a boy but there are no flowers or perfume or birthday presents or Christmas times, there is just the reality of what happens when society abandons it’s most vulnerable individuals to rot when they’re no longer required.
Nothing that I was ever going to write about this would encourage people to read it but that completely misses the point.
Now, more than ever, we need to look these problems straight in the eye, without the fear of consequence, and do what we must do and do what we can do.
Shuggie Bain is the most wonderful and beautiful and horrible and devastating place to start to look.
The hardback is a beautiful thing, if you do get it then read it and pass it to someone else and ask them to write a message in it and give it back to you and then give it to someone else and repeat that process as many times as you can.
If you’re going to buy it, why not think about buying it from Hive - you can get it here.
Next months book will be happier.
Blog Post Number - 2646