Shuggie Bain/ First Post

 I am nearly halfway through "Snuggie Bain," which won the Booker prize with a unanimous vote from the judges. It chronicles the history of a family in Glasgow through the Thatcher years--a family with many problems, the most serious being the alcoholism of Shuggie's mother, Agnes, who seems to be never without a can of lager in her handbag. Other family members whose lives are explored are a much older step-brother, Keen, and an older step-sister named Catherine. And we also go back into a bit of history with Shuggie's Grandmother and Grandfather, Agnes's parents. The writing is extraordinary, although I do suspend belief to some extent at the general sexual promiscuity of the class of society described and also some of descriptions of how an eight-year-old Shuggie is already having problems with his gender. I heard an interview with the author, who is gay, and he does admit that-- although he describes this as a novel--there is a major slice of autobiography in it.

The novel starts with Agnes married to Shug Bain, a taxi driver. Her first marriage had collapsed, leaving her with her two children, Leek and Catherine. Shug--a nickname of Hugh--is the father of Shuggie. Shug leaves Agnes and the three children, and she goes to live in a very run-down area close to an abandoned coal mine, where most of the residents in the small low-rent public housing are struggling with poverty and unemployment.