addicted to alcohol is taken straight back to its horrors here . And all those who have toiled to help the drinking alcoholic will identify with Shuggie Bain ’ s hopes and burdens . The novel centres on Shuggie and his mum . From an early age he looks after her , very often instead of going to school . In the mornings , for her hangovers and withdrawals , Shuggie arranges three tea mugs : ‘ tap water to dry the cracks in her throat , milk to line her sour stomach , a mixture of the flat leftovers frothed together with a fork ’. The lager pushes her boak back down and begins to stop her shakes .

When he does make it to school ,

The novel is set in the deindustrialised Glasgow of the early 1980s when the city ‘ was losing its purpose ’, and in part this is offered as an explanation for hopelessness and alcoholism . But it is really an account of the state of mind of those who are loyal to those addicted ...

Shuggie is bullied because he is different . He is attracted to boys and plays with shiny ornaments and a doll but under this peer pressure he wants nothing more than to like things boys like , including football – but it ’ s a token effort . Shuggie is too young to leave his mum – he has no one else , and he remains firm in the belief that she will recover . ‘ I would do anything for you ,’ he tells her , and blames himself . The bleak limited patterns of her life confine and define his , yet he is also consoled by the routines . As Shuggie sees it , her trouble tends to start when she goes out and meets the wrong people : ‘ it would be better if they were stuck inside alone , where he could keep her safe forever .’

Shuggie ’ s mum , Agnes , sometimes goes through the motions of being a good mother . In the local grocery , she chooses the makings of a good meal . Then , pretending it was an afterthought , she asks for 12 cans of Special Brew . Of course , she doesn ’ t have enough money for all of it and just buys her essentials , leaving all the food in the store .

Her main resentment is men and how she thinks they have ruined her life . Though Agnes is promiscuous – with those who ‘ take her comforts in exchange for a bag of carry-out ’ – she is abused by many men , especially Shuggie ’ s step-dad . He is violent , lives with another woman and comes and goes as he likes . Agnes describes him as ‘ a short fat balding pig who fancies himself as a Casanova ’. Her previous husband was a good man who didn ’ t go to the pub and gave his wages to her , but she was never able to respect this and was restless . After Agnes left him , he had still sent money every Thursday and taken Shuggie and the other children every second Saturday .

Agnes found his limit when she gave her children their step-dad ’ s name : Bain . Their real dad never saw them after that .

When she is abstinent , including a year in Alcoholics Anonymous , Agnes becomes attentive and generous , and impresses on people that she now understands she cannot drink normally . Her latest partner , Eugene , chooses not to try to accept this , as he feels ill at ease socially with someone who doesn ’ t drink . He goads her into a glass of wine . She objects . She is scared to drink , but too proud to admit it , so when he keeps prodding , saying she is a changed woman , she gives in . Soon she orders vodka , ‘ and

then she ordered another and then another ’. Her recovery is over .

The novel is set in the deindustrialised Glasgow of the early 1980s when the city ‘ was losing its purpose ’, and in part this is offered as an explanation for hopelessness and alcoholism . But it is really an account of the state of mind of those who are loyal to those who are addicted – the external chaos and the internal confusion . This is movingly summed up when Shuggie , watching his mum drinking herself to death , asks : ‘ Why can ’ t I be enough ?’

Shuggie Bain is published by Picador ISBN-10 : 1529019273 ISBN-13 : 978-1529019278