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4.38 AVERAGE
4.38 AVERAGE
What I loved:
The tension is held by the alternating storyline’s as you gradually begin to understand how one led to the other.
The compassion you feel for Mungo. A sweet and loving and a bit clueless boy growing up around violence and neglect.
The beautiful innocent love between him and James and his discovery of his sexuality.
The heart wrenching Romeo and Juliet story where the divide is religious hate and homophobia.
The way the author still manages to fill the book with quite glimmers of hope and beauty even in such trauma.
The tension is held by the alternating storyline’s as you gradually begin to understand how one led to the other.
The compassion you feel for Mungo. A sweet and loving and a bit clueless boy growing up around violence and neglect.
The beautiful innocent love between him and James and his discovery of his sexuality.
The heart wrenching Romeo and Juliet story where the divide is religious hate and homophobia.
The way the author still manages to fill the book with quite glimmers of hope and beauty even in such trauma.
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Harrowing and sublime. Makes me miss home as always. 10/10 recommend, though TW for rape.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
This one was tough.
Having read Stuart’s debut, “Shuggie Bain”, I knew going in that he has a talent for sketching scenes that are unnerving, uncomfortable, and also utterly mesmerizing - like a car wreck on the side of the road you just can’t turn away from. There’s plenty of that here, but in “Young Mungo” Stuart has ratcheted up the intensity, and there were some sections of the story that were downright painful.
There are so many common threads between the two books that it almost feels like Stuart stitched together Mungo’s life from the discards of Shuggie’s. Both stories had shining moments, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to differentiate them in my memory a year or two from now.
Having read Stuart’s debut, “Shuggie Bain”, I knew going in that he has a talent for sketching scenes that are unnerving, uncomfortable, and also utterly mesmerizing - like a car wreck on the side of the road you just can’t turn away from. There’s plenty of that here, but in “Young Mungo” Stuart has ratcheted up the intensity, and there were some sections of the story that were downright painful.
There are so many common threads between the two books that it almost feels like Stuart stitched together Mungo’s life from the discards of Shuggie’s. Both stories had shining moments, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to differentiate them in my memory a year or two from now.
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'd rather watch milk curdle than read this book ever again.
The book jumps between two timelines and to be frank it was quite exhausting and boring jumping back and forth. I would have much rather have the story flow in a chronological timeline or have distinct sub headings to show where about's in the timeline we were.
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Shuggie Bain was one of my favorite reads of last year and it was very clear why that particular book won the Booker Prize. When I found out about Young Mungo it quickly became one of my most anticipated reads of 2022 and I was nervous that it would be a let down - but that fear quickly flew out the window. Stuart once again delivered prose that is in equal turns beautiful, heartbreaking and hilarious. Is it dark? Yes. Is it also hopeful? Absolutely. I need more queer Scottish literature and I need it now!