I just finished a book.
Yes, I am doing my annual reading challenge on “Goodreads” but wised up a bit. No longer will I sign up for “100” books to be read by the year end. Like I did in 2019. Way too much pressure. Although, I did, in fact, meet that challenge! Since then I’ve lowered the bar. Real low.
When I was a little girl a book could transport me to another world. My world was perfectly fine but it was mine. And tiny. To get lost in a book to learn about other places and things was truly a wondrous journey. I never understood why everyone wouldn’t want that very same experience.
The same applies to me as an adult. My world is still quite small. Comparatively speaking. So I gobble up the words of authors from everywhere else. And I do not ever shy away from stark reality in my choices.
My 31st book of 2023 was Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart.
It strikes an Angela’s Ashes’ chord. Seems like everyone read that book and remembers it being riveting, tragic, heart-breaking, etc. An experience we personally never could have known. Details from the story might not be recalled decades later but the takeaway still remains indelible.
Douglas Stuart’s descriptive writing leaves a person fuller. Hopefully, their heart and mind. Not happy. Very important distinction. Fuller.
The story is set in Scotland and told in the language of the time. Today I told a Scottish friend, Gillian, that her translation skills sure would have come in handy. But the meaning of most phrases and slang can be parsed from context. It takes place during the 1980s in post-industrial Glasgow.
You visualize what the area looks like after collieries have been shut down, men without the ability to care for their families and the resulting ripples of poverty. The author’s writing paints such vivid landscapes that I could envision myself standing on the edge of town amidst the defunct mining community. To understand the lengths a person would go to feed their children or keep them warm. And the lengths a person wouldn’t go to feed their children due to addiction. It’s gray, bleak and despairing. It’s also filled with the utter love and devotion of a child for his mother.
The story weaves the abject poverty and addiction with threads of racism, religious bias and homophobia. None of this should have anyone hanging their mouth in surprise. It’s all around us and not a new thing.
What’s new is that it’s told in a different light. A snapshot in time about a place many of us do not know. This book helps us connect many dots beginning with economy. It also allows us to view the depth of addiction and love in a newfound way.
Frank McCourt, the author of Angela’s Ashes, believed that his students should, “Write what you know. Use words you know.”
Douglas Stuart did exactly that. And then he shared his heart-breaking story with us.
Just Being Mary 