Shuggie is growing up on a run-down estate in Glasgow where unemployment is rife. His beloved, unmarried mother is an alcoholic and always falls for disastrous men. Shuggie knows he must look after and protect her but also he struggles to define himself. He is different, people notice, he must learn to be more like a boy. This is a raw, heartbreaking novel about a little boy's love for his mother and the devastating effect that addiction has on all those around you. Carrying the ghost of his mother somehow 16 year-old Shuggie must survive. It was a page-turner right to the end.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 101 Summer 2021 ) |
