Regulars will know I read all 6 finalists every year but last year I found them all uninteresting - if after 50 pages I'm not intrigued, I stop. This year that applied. Bought all 6; tried all 6; didn't like any of them. Including Shuggie Bain which I found depressing, one dimensional and uninteresting. Actually it was the first I read, thinking it sounded interesting, but gave up about 70 pages in. The superficialisation of humanity (and literature) continues; pick one tiny topic and drone on about it. A bit like bad Jane Austen. She miniaturised but her examination had humour (sadly lacking in all 6 finalists this year, I thought). I suggest modern writers should read Austen; if they are going to write one note tunes, at least make those one notes wonderfully intricate and complex.

A lot of new writers are seriously over-hyped these days that's for sure. Hoping I enjoy Shuggie B more than you did!

It seems to be a crowded market these days - back in the 1980's everyone wanted to be comedian. Now it's either have a podcast or be an author.

I tend to read old books either from pre war Hollywood or pulp fiction.

I got about halfway with Shuggie Bains but have also given up. Well written misery porn.

OK the subject matter, time and place was never going to be a barrel of laughs, but this sort of fiction needs the relationships and friendships between characters to develop and transcend the misery, at least in part. I was waiting for this to happen, but it never did. Not even between mother and son; which was surely the whole point.

Really disappointing.