Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

438 reviews

nicnocs511's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

jembo's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.25

This book is gorgeously written with prose that washes over you just beautifully and characters and settings that are rendered full of life. But it does verge towards what some might call tragedy p*rn; I don’t think it’s for the faint of heart. It hurts in places and I had to take a few prolonged breaks.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Pregnancy

basementofbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Alcoholism, Bullying, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Murder, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion

beckfest's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Violence

Moderate: Hate crime

77marlenek87's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Hate crime, Homophobia, Rape, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Abortion

Minor: Animal cruelty

nad_books623's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is the saddest book I've ever read. I took multiple breaks to be able to get through this book and it can definitely be a huge trigger warning for someone. Even though it is written in third person the story is real and raw. I felt connected to the characters and the trauma they've been through especially for Mungo. The beginning was pretty slow and I didn't really care for the ending. I wish the ending was more definite but if the author wanted to write a sequel he could do it based off how it ended. 

What's funny to me is how Jodie at first seems like one of the only redeeming characters but she's just as cruel to Mungo as Maureen and Hamish. Also, it's beyond disgusting how his mother let him go with two strange men who are pedophiles.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Abandonment

Moderate: Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Abortion

Minor: Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

fresias's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Violence, and Murder

jasonmango's review

2.0

This book was too brutal for me, I think it's one of the most violent books I've ever read and I really struggled to get through it. The depictions of abuse are pretty harrowing and visceral and I had to brace myself to listen to more of it. That said, I really liked the narrator, and I liked learning a bit more about Glasgow and the social issues and history and the characters have somewhat stuck with me, but more by force than anything else lol. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

deanbaghdadi's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

I think the way it goes between past and present is interesting and elevates the book. It’s a hard read with the content but very interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

imsaneipromise's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I don't understand people who compare this book to a little life, or say this is what it was trying to be. I haven't read a little life but I know it was written with intent to be gratuitous trauma porn. That's not what young Mungo is, or is trying to be. 

A book about a young gay boy growing up in the east end of Glasgow in the 90s was always going to be sad and difficult, because life was sad and difficult. It wasn't about writing something shocking and upsetting, it was about writing something real. Lots of people are saying the descriptions of violence were unnecessarily explicit, but isn't that one of the things that made you feel so deeply while you were reading it? 

I'm of the opinion that some of the best books are ones that elicit visceral responses, because you can literally feel the impact being had on you. I cried while I read this book, and felt joy and heartbreak and despair and hope. 

Aside from that, I read this book in two parts because life got in the way, and ended up spending a lot of time in Glasgow in between. It was pretty special to read a book that started off as pure fiction, then continued with being able to imagine the characters standing in those real life places where I'd also stood, or how the sun bounces off the tenements, or how the close stinks of piss. 

I think the ending is so fitting too. The happiness and hope of knowing James is alive and finally leaving, paired with the anxiety and foreboding of the police sniffing around about the two deaths, not knowing if Mungo will join James, if Mungo will ever leave the east end. Life has no certainty,

 and as a brutally honest book it stays true to itself to the very end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse and Domestic abuse

Minor: Abortion