Reviews - Il giovane Mungo

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Reread for a book club: I still can’t quite find myself to give it 5 stars, despite really liking the prose work even on audio, which is sometimes hard to convey. Narration was perfect as well. Love how he describes physicality and the relevance to how bodies interact. Much more complex than Shuggie, good resolution. I think there’s still just a remoteness to it for me, due to the perspective and style of writing. Inferiority is telegraphed but felt quite opaque, and I don’t like that kind of insinuation in my writing.

Especially when there’s already head hopping happening. The whole Let the reader feel the events school of writing just does not work on me. I want to know what’s going on with the characters, not watch something like a voyeur, transparently meant for the reader when I’m meant to be invisible. My feelings should be a byproduct, not The Point. That’s as near as I get to trying to explain the disconnect in the writing in this and Shuggie, anyway.

Similar to Shuggie Bain, a queer story that would be trite, if it weren’t as nuanced and well realized as it is. Far from a caricature, characters—once you spend time with them—are almost painfully transparent in their actions, telegraphing the trajectory of their lives, trapped in destructive patterns they usually can’t perceive, or willfully obfuscate.

This is a book that justifies Mungo as the protagonist by way of his perception of the numerous forks in the road constructing his own pattern. It doesn’t make the choices any easier, though. Mungo’s actions aren’t foregone, but surrounded by the people he is, eliding the path which won’t constantly batter him into the rough shape of “a “real” man, proves to be at at a cost.

As with Shuggie, I really liked this. Solidly constructed and well executed… But similarly to this, I didn’t go mad for it, either. I suspect I’ll be in the minority again on that front, though.