A coming of age story, an unflinching, gritty and emotionally heart-breaking portrayal of a beaten dysfunctional family, a boy Shuggie and his mother Agnes in Glasgow community, suffering the galling pains and despair of the Thatcher era in the 1980s. It also might be a challenging one for those unfamiliar with the Glasgow slang-- not unlike the Edinburgh slang in Welsh's Trainspotting. Shuggie Bain is a story of alcohol addiction. Think of a possible content warning and it is probably in this book. Graphic rape. Physical and emotional abuse. And beyond these overt horrors, the narrative itself is just so bleak. It is fitting that the cover is in black and white when Stuart writes of a world so grim and grey.