Reviews with content warning for Cursing - Young Mungo

first of all, this book needs a fucking content warning jesus christ
anywayyy, the pacing was a bit off for the first 150 pages in my opinion bc nothing happened and it was getting slightly boring imo
the writing is great though it‘s just the plot (and how graphic it is) that I struggled with
also, this book is advertised in such a weird way?? like people need to start making it clear when a book is as violent as this one is because they really didn‘t and I don‘t like when stuff like this is being jumped on me (my bad for not looking up the content warnings first, i guess)

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tarnya_smith's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

We follow Mungo, the youngest of 3 siblings to an absent father and a drunk mother who is intermittent and unreliable. Mungo tries to stay in school, navigate gang expectations from his older brother, keep connected with his mother and make friends. You really feel for Mungo and his want to escape this life and when he finds his reason and chance, you can't help but hope it's not too good to be true.

I'd never read anything before with such a distinctive Glaswegian voice and the audiobook really helped with that.

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sarajain's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I want to begin with some serious trigger warnings. GRAPHIC rape scenes. If you are a victim of abuse or SA, please read with caution. The writing was incredibly detailed during these scenes. I'm honestly suprised most reviews don't even mention this issue. It's pretty disturbing to read and I struggled to complete this book.

The rest of the content is fine, it's very relatable as a queer story, the alienation, the bullying, the danger of being a gay teen is well captured. The characters are well written and I enjoyed the snippets of humour throughout.

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kou_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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vifed's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

The book was slow paced, but in a really good way. I kept coming back to this book, even when it was slow.

This book made me sad, angry, frustrated, and just overall emotional. And it should. Young Mungo is heartbreaking. But it’s hopeful, with little glimmers of love and happiness, told from the perspective of the working class. It’s insightful, detailed.

Maybe a little too detailed? I felt like the author kept harping on about insignificant things in some areas, as if to give the most detailed background information. Maybe I just haven’t deep-dives into the book. Maybe I just haven’t looked for the symbolism yet.

I liked this book. I feel so sad, but I have hope. I have hope for Mungo. I’m attached to the characters in so many ways. I have hope for everyone in the book.

That is, the characters that remain alive, anyways.

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madread8's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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lizard800's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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jasminrain's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book shattered me but it's also one of the best books I've read in a while. It's a brilliant, yet extremely heavy description of what it was like to grow up queer and working class in Glasgow. One should definitely check the content warnings before reading this book as it's a very challenging read at times. and it touches upon so many different forms of hardship. At the same time, I think it's a brilliant description of queer love, poverty and what life in Scotland was like back in the day.

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