Reviews with content warning for Abortion - Young Mungo

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Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

227 reviews

merisversion's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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nad_books623's review against another edition

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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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shobhana's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense slow-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

5.0

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imsaneipromise's review against another edition

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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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caits_002's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-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

4.75

Content Warnings

lugalante's review

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Really very sad, wish the ending had been more conclusive. Good or bad, just give me something.

Content Warnings

cecereads__'s review against another edition

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4.5

It took me a while to fully get into this story and have some of these characters get under my skin. I thought it was tender and beautiful and raw and hopeful - and shattering as well, let’s be honest. Some ppl don’t get what they “deserve (not that it can be quantified or sth like that but more karma-wise, good and bad, iykyk).
I don’t want to compare it to Shuggie Bain though there are many crossovers. However, I feel like the author has honed in on his craft and found sth that works for him. I’d like to think I could tell of a progression.
Themes of neglect, isolation, violence and alcoholism to be aware of.

I hope to f**k Mungo and James are enjoying a quiet and happy life together. And that Jodie is at Uni living it tf up and finally on her own

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