Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

9 reviews

juliep810's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, Addiction, Blood, Sexual assault, Body horror, Child abuse, Mental illness, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, Abortion, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Toxic relationship, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Abandonment, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Outing

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 ✨

---

Content Warnings

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

notthatcosta's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-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? No

3.25

This was a book of two halves for me. I loved it as an ethnography slice of life from the East End of Glasgow in the 90s, which I found very interesting. The characters were very well fleshed out and the 'world' felt incredibly vivid and visceral. Douglas Stuart is clearly very talented at world building. 

However, the flashes forward to the plot at the loch veered into misery porn in a way that felt unnecessary. I hate the countryside as much as it is, and I don't feel like the events that transpired really added anything to the book, nor did it really inform the plot. I feel like it would have been a total triumph had it completely erased that sub plot, including the ending.

Overall the excellent parts outweigh the part I resented having to read, and I'm keen to read Shuggie Bain off the back of this.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Animal death, Alcohol, Sexism, Child abuse, Grief, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Gore, Homophobia, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Abortion, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Body horror, Classism, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Rape, and Sexual assault

leahcatching's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Murder, Sexual content, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Homophobia, Sexual violence, and Violence

0palsea's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense 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

Really good book, I havent been this gripped to a book in so long!
Really raw and realistic story of growing up gay in working class Glasgow. Would recommend listening to the audiobook to add to the experience.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Sexual violence, Violence, Child abuse, Drug use, Abandonment, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Bullying, and Outing

pstillbejeweled's review against another edition

Well, I was looking for romance and this was not for me. RARELY happy a moment. Of course, I have read the reviews and TWs but there are MORE disturbing contents than I expected, my wee heart cannae take it 💔 the timeline shift is jarring and doesn't add anything to the novel btw 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Rape, Bullying, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexism, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, and Child abuse

cluckieduck's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

 I have been sitting with my thoughts on how to review this book for some time now, as I grapple with my feelings. How do you rate something that is unspeakably tragic, yet utterly captivating? Seriously, this is Shakespearean-level tragedy here, equally one of the most horrible books I've read this year (possibly ever) but also one of the best.

What it did do, however, was reinforce my love for romance novels because the amount of despair & anguish that poor Mungo goes through is too much for my poor heart. Seems I can only take one piece of contemporary fiction like Young Mungo each year! Thankfully it ended on a somewhat hopeful note, otherwise I don't know how I would have coped. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Violence, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Excrement and Vomit

Minor: Death of parent

montyalmoro's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Outing

laurxndxx's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

First of all this book requires a trigger warning for practically everything from start to finish. There were moments when I had to take a break out of shock. Despite that, it was an extremely emotive story about navigating being gay in a housing estate in Glasgow, whilst having to deal with his alcoholic mother and his overbearing brother. A lot of the characters were unlikable. I feel like this was too graphic for me, and might be better for someone else. I definitely recommend looking into the themes of this before reading it. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Douglas Stuart for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Medical content, Rape, Sexual assault, Racism, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Outing, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, and Violence