Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

88 reviews

jkneebone's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Told in dual timelines that take place within the same year, Young Mungo follows 15-year-old Mungo, who lives in the East End of Glasgow with his mother, Mo-Maw, his older sister Jodie, and his older brother Hamish. Mo-Maw is an alcoholic who frequently abandons her children for weeks on end, Hamish is a gang leader who torments his younger brother, and Jodie is doing her best to balance her academic promise and desire for the future with caring for herself and Mungo in light of Mo-Maw's frequent absences. Youngest child Mungo is sensitive and different; he dislikes violence and lets his mother coddle him, unable to resent her behavior in the same way Jodie does. In the bulk of the timeline - the 'before' - we see Mungo struggle through school (he's not a good student), confrontations with Hamish, and trying to help Jodie; he also befriends another boy who lives in a neighboring tenement building. James is seven months older and occupies himself with raising pigeons while his father, who works on an oil rig, is away for months at a time. Mungo and James quickly become close, but the fact that James is Catholic while Mungo is Protestant puts them at risk if anyone discovers their relationship, especially Mungo's brother Hamish, who leads a Protestant gang.

In the shorter timeline - the 'after' - Mungo is sent by Mo-Maw on a fishing trip with two men she knows from AA. Calling themselves St Christopher and Gallowgate, they take Mungo on a multi-bus journey to a remote loch. The men are former convicts and heavy alcoholics, but only after Mungo is there does he realize the real danger he might be in.

I read this for a book club, as it is not the kind of book I would pick up normally, and though I was glad to have the chance to branch out, it was still not my cup of tea. I think it was well written, if perhaps a tad longer than it needed to be (although despite the length, it felt like a quick read; the writing was very engaging). All of the characters were so well developed and interesting, even if most of them were more unlikable than not. The setting was quite vivid as well, although it threw me off that the era wasn't made clear earlier on - maybe there was a hint that I missed, but while I got that it was the 90s eventually, I spent way too much time wondering at the beginning. 

Overall I interpreted this as a sort of commentary on poverty and abuse, the cyclical/heritable nature of trauma, and the deep claws of homophobia. Mo-Maw got pregnant young and holds this against her children; we see this pattern playing out with Hamish and Sammy Jo

and with Jodie's aborted pregnancy

. The impact of alcoholism and drug addiction can be seen in myriad characters both major and minor.

Mungo fears his life taking the same path as Mr. Calhoun's, another example of repetition throughout the ages, and the response that James and Mungo's families have to their queerness show how fearful they are of it. Not to mention the extreme irony of Hamish calling James a child molester and how the family knows that is Bad and wants to use it as an excuse to blame him for corrupting Mungo, but don't actually care that they are sending Mungo away with two known child molesters.

This book definitely leaves you with a lot to think about, and I really felt for (most of) the characters, Mungo especially, who is being squished and fit into a role that doesn't fit him, but can't see any way out given the opportunities life has presented to him.

I'm conflicted about the ending - it definitely improved my feelings on the book overall, but I wish that it hadn't taken so long to get to that point.

I'm also not sure how I feel about the author leaving what actually happens to Mungo up in the air - on the one hand, I liked being shown a glimpse of the changed Mungo without seeing him definitely doom himself to that future; on the other hand I think it's a bit of a cop-out to leave such an open ending.

This book was definitely good, and interesting; I'm looking forward to talking about it with others, but I still wouldn't say it was my cup of tea. It was good, but I didn't love it; I'm sure many readers will.

Heavy, heavy topics throughout - definitely read the content warnings if you're sensitive about pretty much anything. There is a lot of sad, bad stuff going on.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cursing, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Outing, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Minor: Abortion

torismazarine's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

senoyreve's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I found young mungo started slow, it dragged on, and honestly I felt I wouldn't be finishing it. then along came James, the writing flourishes after James is introduced, because I think that Stuarts main strength lies in his descriptive prose, even in the beginning the descriptions of the landscapes, characters, or actions kept me enthralled. the book is wonderful because you can feel like your in mungo's shoes, looking at the world through his lens, it never breaks even if you are seeing it from an outside perspective. there is a beauty in every page of this book, even the violent ones the undercurrent of beauty lies. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Outing, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

nineinchnails's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

i was prepared for this to be a little depressing but i was taken aback by how heavy the actual content was so i definitely suggest checking the trigger warnings before picking this up. it's a testament to douglas' talent that i repeatedly felt physically nauseous while reading. the imagery is incredibly vivid and i felt like i was right there - unfortunately this was also the case for the fishing trip chapters. despite the bleakness of the novel, james and mungo were incredibly sweet and i couldn't help feeling anxious for the two of them. mungo is a tender soul in a very cruel world!! i just wanted to protect him

all of the characters were well developed and fleshed out but jodie was particularly interesting to read about. she was one of the only characters to treat mungo with love and care relatively consistently. she was something of a mother figure to him, despite only being a year older - to me this shone a light on mungo's naivete as well as jodie's parentification. they had a teenage brother but the responsibility of raising and caring for the two of them still fell on her shoulders alone. jodie "hated" their mother, but

was the one who almost repeated her mistakes - a case could be made for hamish but it's not really comparable (in my opinion) as women are required to sacrifice so much more to raise children,

even more so 3 decades ago. even though she was arguably the most kind and loving towards mungo

she was far from accepting of his sexuality when he told her - this feels much more like a consequence of the world they live in than a judgement on her character, however. i got the impression she was scared for him, not disgusted with him

. i think the novel ended with

mungo slightly bitter towards her because he felt much more hurt by her rejection than anyone else's - "If Jodie, of all people, could not love him, all of him, perhaps he could not be loved."

really highlights this.

mungo seems to be endlessly loving, endlessly obedient, and endlessly forgiving. it's painful to see him repeatedly get taken advantage of by the people in his life. his mother has pretty much no redeeming qualities and just seems to take and take with no regard for the wellbeing of her own children. getting to the end and finding out

the full context behind her sending him away with those men is absolutely sickening

i came out of it absolutely hating her guts after starting it disliking  and mildly pitying her. on the other hand, there's hamish who is violent and abusive. their father died before mungo was born, so hamish is the closest thing he has to a father figure and mungo loves him in spite of the way he treats him. mungo doesn't embrace masculinity the way his older brother does, and it seems to be an endless source of frustration for hamish. he brings up needing to "toughen him up" constantly, and i got the impression that some part of him genuinely thinks he is acting in his brother's best interests. it doesn't excuse his behaviour but he is more redeemable (to me) than their mother, who doesn't seem to care about anyone other than herself.

the ending of the fishing trip did feel a little dissonant considering the overall tone of the novel and the characterisation of mungo up to this point. of course, he was put in a situation where he had few options and i am more than relieved that he ended up

killing his rapists. i pray for every rapist to meet the very same fate

so i'm not upset at all at how it ended, outside of it feeling like it didn't quite fit the story/character. i didn't mind it (and absolutely wouldn't recommend it being amended, since the setting is very much crucial to the story being told) but there is a lot of scottish slang and i struggled a little even as a british reader but you do get used to it. 

i didn't expect to tear up for the reason that i did when i finished this. it was very shocking while also making complete sense for

hamish to take mungo's place with the police

and i am probably wildly delusional but i saw it as a sign that he loves him deeply, in his own way. it could absolutely be a show of masculinity or family loyalty but i'm choosing to be an optimist after all the misery and desolation of this book. all in all i would highly recommend this book given you check the trigger warnings!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Child sexual abuse, Grooming, Child neglect, Poverty, Student/Teacher relationship, Backstreet/unsafe abortion, and Prostitution/sex work

adrienne_rennie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Abortion

Minor: Pregnancy

blues's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Che viaggio spettacolare. Questo libro mi ha catapultato in una Scozia degli anni 80-90, in un ambiente chiuso, iper-mascolinizzato e religioso (con annesse lotte tra la parte protestante e la parte cristiana) e me l'ha fatto sentire a 360 gradi. Mi ha fatto conoscere Mungo, ma con lui anche tante altre persone con cui sono riuscito ad empatizzare, nonostante questi non fossero sempre personaggi molto positivi. Vediamo questi personaggi sia nei momenti "pieni" di trama, sia in quei momenti di quotidianità (soprattutto Mungo ovviamente), il che ci aiuta molto a capirli meglio, a capire come ragionano e quali sono i loro punti di forza e le loro insicurezze. 
Ho adorato particolarmente tutte le metafore che Douglas Stuart ha utilizzato per descrivere i sentimenti di Mungo e di tutti questi personaggi, facendomi sempre capire appieno la sensazione che voleva trasmettermi. 
Un'altra cosa che ho amato sono le descrizioni degli ambienti: riuscivo davvero a sentirmi dentro ai posti che raccontava. Non solo li vedevo nella mia testa, ma ne sentivo anche gli odori, i rumori e i sapori. Ero davvero insieme ai personaggi.
Questo libro mi ha preso il cuore e me l'ha strappato in mille pezzi, ma mi ha anche lasciato una parte di Mungo, che si muoverà con me ovunque io andrò. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent

readingatthemuseum's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

viccctk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

A hard, emotional read with some really difficult scenes. Some beautiful parts about being in love amongst all the brutal suffering.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, and Abortion

emilybr's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

Heart wrenching, the characters are wonderfully complex and the book managed to tell such an intricate story in under 400 pages. It is not a joyful story, the events Mungo and those around him go through are horrific but so incredibly believable, once i started reading i couldn’t stop. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, and Religious bigotry

ellymc's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abortion, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail