Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

89 reviews

greatexpectations77's review

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

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

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

Big big trigger warning for

sexual assault and child abuse.

rose_reads_'s review against another edition

dark emotional 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

3.75

What an interesting listen! It took me quite a while to get into the book and some parts were quite slow but overall it was a really good book. Definitely check the content/trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Abandonment, Violence, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Vomit, Sexual violence, Animal death, Torture, Classism, Bullying, Homophobia, and Animal cruelty

m4rtt4's review against another edition

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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

A Glaswegian version of A Little Life. So sad, so painful, almost cried and had it been longer I probably would have cried — then again the book felt a bit dragging at times, so I'm glad it wasn't longer (and honestly my heart wouldn't have been able to take it either).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Blood, Sexual content, Alcohol, Death, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Bullying, Abortion, Domestic abuse, and Grief

jancaissemal's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Violence

jennipiccalo's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Rape, Abortion, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

sakisreads's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

✨ Gifted ✨

This book took me a little while to get into initially, but once I was about 25% in I was ready to invest. I spent a LOT of time thinking about this book.
There are many content warnings that are required, so if any of those below upset you please do not read.

What a deeply draining book! I came away and breathed a sigh of relief, because Mungo went through a LOT. 
I can’t imagine having lived through a period like that, and yet Douglas Stuart wrote this in such a way that you could see everything and understand all that Mungo endured.
Maureen was by far the most complex character I felt; there could be a book written about her too!

Lots of love for Mungo, James Jodie and surprisingly Calum? ❤️ I wasn’t expecting the feature from him towards the end 🥹

4 out of 5 stars from me, thank you ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Blood, Death, Pedophilia, and Rape

eviejayne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.25

Another heartbreaking and challenging book from Stuart that brims with painful, beautiful prose.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Blood, Child abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Alcoholism

tolu_odejide's review against another edition

challenging 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? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

You can’t live for other people. My heart ached for all the characters in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Vomit, Abandonment, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying and Abortion

pkc's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

At the half way point, I couldn’t have envisioned giving this book five stars. Some of the subject matter is harrowing and tough to read, but tell me why I finished reading it, feeling, of all things, hopeful? Mungo as a protagonist is sweet and complicated. His journey of discovery is as joyful as it is harrowing in places and seeing him endure what he does filled me with a deep sense of anger and hurt and seeing his transition at the end of the novel left me feeling conflicted.

No one should endure what he has to, but the result is that he survives his ordeal with his brother and the loch and comes back with a sense of perspective - he will fend for himself and do what is right for himself.

 

All in all, a much bleaker picture than ‘Shuggie Bain’ but definitely more complex and engaging.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Self harm, Terminal illness, Torture, Animal death, Bullying, Vomit, Rape, Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Murder, Violence, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Death, Medical trauma, and Outing

klaloha's review against another edition

sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Homophobia, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Blood

Minor: Death of parent, Abortion, and Bullying