Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

117 reviews

katcass's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Abortion, Murder, Outing, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Emotional abuse

karishall18's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

This is potentially the most incredible book I have ever read. It made me cry three times. It was a lot more brutal and violent than I thought it would be but equally as tender, with the most beautiful central story of first love that for me, eclipsed a lot of the darkness. The romance brought so much life to the narrative and Stuart’s prose is so gripping that I felt my heart tighten at multiple moments. He is an incredible writer, the world-building is scintillating. Easy five stars- every time I think of the fact I will never read it for the first time again, I could weep. I felt genuine sadness to leave the characters behind when the novel finished. I hope they are happy somewhere. That is all I wanted to say. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, and Alcohol

twin_empires's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, and Alcohol

xaviergasper's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

4.0

I spent so much of this book with my opinions of the Hamilton's flip-flopping between hatred and love.

They redeemed themselves in the end though, and I was glad to see them stick with Mungo.

Stuart is a masterful writer, I love how he chooses to relay information to the reader and I would love to read more from him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Murder, and Alcohol

alicjasinah'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Abortion, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

the_end_of_june'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
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Alcohol

turtleraces'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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

firstknight's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Outing, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Police brutality, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective 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

4.5

This is definitely one of those books where you leave it feeling really sad and upset and worried about the characters. And it feels weird to say that you liked it because there is some real bad shit going on in this book. I wonder how the experience would have been different if I would have read this book, and not had the great narration and musicality of the accent.  I want to read the other book that Mr. Stuart has written, but I think I need to take a break for a while in case Shuggie Bain is as heart-wrenching a character as Mungo is. This is definitely one that will have more trigger warnings selected than not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug abuse, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, and Death of parent

Big big trigger warning for

sexual assault and child abuse.

cleyburne's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad fast-paced

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

5.0

Mungo lives forever in my heart now.  Prepare to fall in love (and sometimes hate) with the characters, the land, the city, the stories, and of course, the love itself.   If you need a sweet, heartbreaking (and heartmending) queer love story, this may be the one for you.  

Mungo lives in poverty, with an alcoholic parent who comes and goes, and a violent brother who puts him in very bad situations.  It’s a challenging read.  It has very painful scenes.  It takes you to a dark place, and then it shows you one of the most beautiful lights you’ve ever seen.  

Please read.  If you can sit with the pain.  (Read the content warnings)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Abandonment, and Alcohol