I have been reading (via audiobook) Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart.   It won the Booker Prize for 2020 and had many great reviews.

I have had to work hard to stick with it, though.    I can see it is leading up to something powerful and rewarding, but I am finding it difficult.    Initial difficulties started with the Scottish brogue (harder with an audiobook) and the vocabulary/dialect.   Then, none or the main characters are likeable or admirable.    As the plot progresses the story is bleak, filled with many types of abuse, hopelessness, and filled with broken people.

Is this the kind of story I would choose to read?   Am I enjoying the read?

Well, I am still hanging in there, with the hope that some form or redemption or some end reward, but it doesn’t feel like it.    It is indeed a powerful book, but the temptation is to stop and find something else.

Concurrently I am reading Nomadland, which is a wonderful read and The Dry, also very accessible.   Without those stories to turn to, I would have put down Shuggie Bains already.