November brought some certainty to Booklovers’ lives, as the 52nd Booker Prize was awarded to Douglas Stuart for his semi-autobiographical debut novel, Shuggie Bain.
Usually, a pretty neat affair, this year’s ceremony was kept to its bare bones formality keeping in view with the pandemic. The participants, including the Booker Prize hopefuls, who were shortlisted to make the longlist back in September, joined through digital means from their country of origin. Astonishingly, this year all the hopefuls were from the outside of England, making this ceremony truly one of a kind and in tune with the life-altering COVID-19 crisis.
A Personal vis-à-vis National Acclaim
By bagging the Booker Prize in these unprecedented times, Douglas Stuart, who grew up in Glasgow and now lives in New York, became the second Scotsman to win the coveted prize. Earlier James Kelman won the prize in 1994 for How Late it Was, How Late. In this official interview with The Booker Prize, Stuart said, “It feels unreal. I was a working-class kid who had a different career and came to writing late. This validation of the work is life-changing. I hope it inspires others with working-class stories.”
Shuggie Bain takes place in 1980s Glasgow when the writer was very much in the mix of things. It’s a haunting tale of a mother and son who are trying to find their pivots in life while holding onto each other. The mother, Agnes Bain is struggling with alcohol after the breakdown of her marriage and descending into a new hell each day. Her worsening condition finds sympathy only in one of her children, Shuggie who struggles dearly to take care of her mother while struggling with his own demons.
Be warned though. It is not an easy read. A haunting story of poverty and addiction in 1980s Scotland, it can be grim and upsetting. Douglas Stuart has said it made him feel “quite sad” writing it. I admit, there was only so much I could read at a time.
Rebecca Jones, BBc Art correspondent
Speaking with BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, Stuart added, “I’m sorry if I make it sound like a bleak book, it’s actually very funny, it’s tender and there’s a lot of intimacy and love. I think that’s the Glaswegian spirit. Growing up in Glasgow was, I think, probably one of the greatest inspirations of my life,” he said.
A Character Study
The novel explores the complex relationship between Agnes and Shuggie Bain, a working-class left-out mother and her queer son. In a way, the book also explores the relation between the individuals and 1980s Glasgow. Living in an environment that was seeped in desperation and oppression, living amongst the people who were sometimes loving and hilarious yet aggressive, the book projects a picture that lefts a reader with deep trenches in both their hearts and psyche. Trenches filled with love and sorrow, coz there are no happy endings here.
Adding to his official interview with the Booker Prize, Studart said, “The characters in Shuggie Bain couldn’t exist anywhere else; Glasgow is as much in their blood as it is in mine. When you come from a place of such strong character – oppressive, resilient, loving, hilarious, aggressive, maddening – it shapes who you are for the rest of your life. Childhood in Glasgow was tough, and distance certainly helped me to distil the story out of my experiences of the city. That distance brought clarity but it also allowed me to fall in love with the city again.”
A New Hope
Having gone through the COVID-19 pandemic without seeing any sales, therefore, a subdued reception, Douglas Stuart now hopes the sales of the book would finally pick up. With the help of the prize money and the recognition, Stuart hopes to “focus on his writing”, and turn it into his main career. He is also hopeful of returning to Glasgow now.
Stars In The Sky
The ceremony was marked by the virtual presence of the Duchess of Cornwall and former US President Barack Obama. Sir Kazuo Ishiguro from Japan, the winner of the 1989 Booker Prize for his book The Remains of the Day, also attended digital proceedings, along with last year’s winners Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo.
On the occasion, the duchess said: “While Covid deprived us of so many cultural pleasures – we have, at least, been able to read. And as long as we can read, we can travel, we can escape, we can explore, we can laugh, we can cry and we can grapple with life’s mysteries.”
Barack Obama further added: ‘I’ve always turned to writing to make sense of our world … And at their best, Booker Prize-listed books remind me of fiction’s power to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, understand their struggles, and imagine new ways to tackle complex problems and effect change.”
Douglas Stuart’s Shuggie Bain was chosen unanimously to be awarded the 52nd Booker Prize within just an hour.
Douglas Stuart has dedicated his book and now the prize to his mother who died of alcoholism when he was 16 years old.
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