Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Young Mungo

#RecentlyRead #YoungMungo 🕊

Douglas Stuart's sophomore novel has a lot in common with his debut, Shuggie Bain. Both feature young queer characters in Scotland during the 80s. Both feature an alcoholic mother and complicated sibling relationship, and both deal with class issues and tension between the Protestants and Catholics.

Once again I was very impressed with the way Stuart writes- he crafts such complete characters and builds an atmosphere so real you feel like you're there, too.

Young Mungo is told over two timelines which converge by the end of the book. At the very beginning we know that Mungo has been caught with another boy, beaten by his brother, and sent away by his mother to go camping with two men (who are basically strangers) to straighten him out, toughen him up... give him some manly guidance.

The other timeline follows Mungo prior to this camping trip- giving us a chance to get to know him and his family, and watch as he developed a friendship (and more) with the slightly older Catholic boy who steals and raises fancy pigeons.

One thing to note about the dual timelines is that there is no visual signifier to the reader when switching between the two. The setting and characters make it obvious enough, but towards the end of the novel, as the time gap closes it becomes a little less obvious... then again, that could have been a mistake I made reading past my bedtime! 😉

Unlike Shuggie, who is a young child for most of his book, Mungo is 15 years old and on the cusp of manhood- by 16 he can be considered emancipated and is free to go where he wants with whomever he wants. My problem with his age is that the way he is so infantilized by his mother and sister made it hard for me to visualise him as a teenager ready to fall in love, run away, and be self sustaining.

Getting past that issue, (which is minor really, because I'm sure if I think about it long enough I can come up with some reasoning as to the roles he plays inside and outside of his home life), I found the characters to be so fully developed that I could feel their emotions and struggles pouring off the page; which was exactly my experience with Shuggie Bain. If I could adopt Shuggie and Mungo both I absolutely would! My mothering instinct aches for them.

So while the writing is beautiful, and here and there are wholesome character relationships, the story is full of sadness and violence that had me grimacing while reading. Portions of this book were literally a visceral experience.

I preferred Shuggie Bain to Young Mungo, honestly; but that is like asking if I want cake or ice cream.... both, please!

Content Warnings

snowydaze's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional sad 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? Yes

3.0

I received an audiobook copy of Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Overall, I enjoyed some parts of the book, but I felt that most of it dragged on quite a bit. This made it very difficult to get into the book and get to know the characters in any meaningful way. Additionally at times, it seemed like Mungo did things that seem uncharacteristic of him or contradicted what his character was made out to be like.
I also found that most of the feminine characters were treated and acted the same way besides a handful of them. I understand that their actions represent the truth of what can occur in some instances, but the way these issues are discussed and treated in the book comes across negatively.
I also feel like this book should include some form of a trigger warning list as there are numerous things I would have loved a warning about regardless of the effects knowing about it would have on the story. Therefore, I highly recommend looking up a trigger warning list before reading this book.

Content Warnings

saoirsebb's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

mybookcorner's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

My expectations were quite high and I was left pretty disappointed with this one. Two intense plot lines mixed with a very predictable storyline of a main character made this quite a sludge for me to get through. It wasn’t breathtaking and wasn’t very riveting. Stuart writes his characters with charm and it’s easy to get attached to them, but it would’ve been easier to not have two storylines mixed in together. It made the pace struggle. I wanted to know more about James and Mungo. But in my opinion, this was such a minimal portion of the novel. And I was disappointed.

After hearing such rave reviews about Shuggie Bain I was looking forward to this being my first Stuart (this proof was gifted my way), but I was honestly so bored. I’m sure those who loved Shuggie might love this. I wish I could be more eloquent but I just didn’t enjoy this as much as I’d hoped.

Thank you Picador for sending this my way for an honest review.

Content Warnings

More...