Shuggie Bain

2020布克獎決選

 

　　布克獎評審團盛讚：「令人驚豔的處女作，刻劃一個家庭以愛與勇氣，面對酒精成癮帶來的問題，故事中展現人性最私密、最令人同情的角落，讓人目不轉睛。」

 

　　「故事美麗而淒涼，但也蘊藏豐富的溫暖和樂觀，帶著讀者走完全程。」－知名英國主持人葛漢諾頓

 

　　1981年，這個曾經被稱作大英帝國第二大城的格拉斯哥城，正沈浸在它最蕭條黑暗的時期，連市井小民都必須依靠各種投機的方式，才能存活。

 

　　Agnes Bain一直都嚮往著更好的生活，像是住進擁有獨立大門的房子，或是買家用品不需要分期付款。但當風流成性的老公棄她於不顧時，美好的幻想頓時破滅，只剩下三個嗷嗷待哺的孩子，以及這困住她的落魄城鎮。人生的不如意，使Agnes終日與酒精為伴，孩子們一個個離開她身邊，只有兒子Shuggie緊握著一切都會變好的信念留了下來。

 

　　Shuggie有些許不同，他跟母親一樣地挑剔，總是隱隱約約透露著些許陰柔氣息。鎮上礦工的孩子們都不喜歡他、欺負他，大人們也無視他。但Shuggie相信只要他夠努力，他一定能夠變成所謂「一般」的男孩子，也一定能夠幫助母親脫離酒精的誘惑。

 

　　(文／博客來編譯)

 

　　Shuggie Bain is the unforgettable story of young Hugh "Shuggie" Bain, a sweet and lonely boy who spends his 1980s childhood in run-down public housing in Glasgow, Scotland. Thatcher's policies have put husbands and sons out of work, and the city's notorious drugs epidemic is waiting in the wings.

 

　　Shuggie's mother Agnes walks a wayward path: she is Shuggie's guiding light but a burden for him and his siblings. She dreams of a house with its own front door while she flicks through the pages of the Freemans catalogue, ordering a little happiness on credit, anything to brighten up her grey life. Married to a philandering taxi-driver husband, Agnes keeps her pride by looking good--her beehive, make-up, and pearly-white false teeth offer a glamourous image of a Glaswegian Elizabeth Taylor. But under the surface, Agnes finds increasing solace in drink, and she drains away the lion's share of each week's benefits--all the family has to live on--on cans of extra-strong lager hidden in handbags and poured into tea mugs. Agnes's older children find their own ways to get a safe distance from their mother, abandoning Shuggie to care for her as she swings between alcoholic binges and sobriety. Shuggie is meanwhile struggling to somehow become the normal boy he desperately longs to be, but everyone has realized that he is "no right," a boy with a secret that all but him can see. Agnes is supportive of her son, but her addiction has the power to eclipse everyone close to her--even her beloved Shuggie.

 

　　A heartbreaking story of addiction, sexuality, and love, Shuggie Bain is an epic portrayal of a working-class family that is rarely seen in fiction. Recalling the work of douard Louis, Alan Hollinghurst, Frank McCourt, and Hanya Yanagihara, it is a blistering debut by a brilliant novelist who has a powerful and important story to tell.