Shuggie Bain

I won't lie. Shuggie Bain, Douglas Stuart's debut novel, was incredibly raw and difficult to get through. The characters weren't particularly likeable, yet my heart ached for all them.

The story which takes place in 1980 Glasgow, Scotland is Shuggie, a young boy who is part of a working class family. At first Shuggie and his parents, Shug and Agnes, live with Agnes' parents in what sounds like a lower middle class apartment building. Shug moves the family away, out to the sticks, to a mining village where the mine has been closed for awhile and most of the miners are on the dole.

How do these people whose lives have taken a turn for the worse survive? Agnes finds solace in the bottle as do many of her neighbors. Drugs are rampant. Shuggie's older siblings find ways to leave the house as soon as they are old enough while Shuggie remains with Agnes, taking on the role of her keeper.  What an incredibly rough life. I felt like I held very little hope for the characters and wondered how they could have felt any hope for themselves.

Shuggie Bain reminded me of a cross between The Crazyladies of Pearl Street and The Glass Castle, two very other difficult books to read. I'm on the fence about whether I would recognize this one or not. If raw and rough are what you're in the mood for, this might be the perfect book.

 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Books & Beer Club reads a banned book each September for Banned Book Week. A few of the classics were selected, but I threw out The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie because that was the banned book that several in my little book club were planning to read for our October meeting observing Banned Book Week. I wanted to read True Diary, but I'd already read and selected The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison as my banned book for October. Figured I could do double duty... True Diary has such awesome reviews.

Then why is it banned? There's profanity, alcoholism, sexuality and violence. I still don't understand what makes those things ban-worthy. This novel is autobiographical, using most characters who are composites of people the author grew up with, and I'll bet it comes very close to reflecting the life of a Native American, an Indian, coming of age in the 1990s on a reservation in Washington State. The author is an Indian and was raised on the reservation.

Junior - or Arnold - comes from a loving family. He lives with his alcoholic father, his mother, his grandmother and his older sister, Mary. If they have nothing else, they have love. And they have each other. Junior was born with health problems and as such, he's the target of many of the bullies on the reservation. The kid bullies - and some adult bullies. Junior is also smarter and more curious than probably all the people on the reservation. He's a reader. A real book lover. Junior's best friend is Rowdy whose home life is not nearly as loving or peaceful. Rowdy is one angry kid, but he's Junior's devoted protector.

The Diary covers Arnold's first year in high school. He starts at the school on the reservation, but after an incident happens on the first day, he transfers to the white high school 22 miles away from where Arnold lives. He works to be accepted at his new school and to still feel a part of the reservation. It's not as easy as one might imagine.

The book is engaging from the start. It's a novel about some pretty heavy, serious stuff but written in a lighthearted humorous manner that makes it easier to read, although that doesn't diminish the seriousness of what Alexie is sharing. Big themes in the novel are bullying, racism, alcoholism, grief, and the meaning of friendships and family. There's also a far share of teenage angst. After all, Arnold is 14-years old.

Junior is also a cartoonist. That's how he handles much of what churns through his mind. Junior's cartoon creations are excellently brought to the pages of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Ellen Forney who somehow gets into Junior's brain as she puts marker to paper. Markers are not her usual medium but they were most probably Junior's. The cartoons come off as being very authentic.

I hope the Books & Beer folks enjoy the book as much as I did. There's certainly a lot to talk about.