Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

114 reviews

firstknight's review

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

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

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: 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.

andrea_lachance's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

4.0

God, my feelings about this book are so complicated. Stuart writes with such lyricism and beauty that makes the extremes of violence and beauty in this book dance on a razor's edge. It's a good book. It's heartbreaking, and it is not for everyone.

The beginning of the book is slow going, trying to parce who's-who and what exactly is going on takes time. The second half really kicks into gear with gut-wrenching revelations. Mungo is a babe in the woods, and this book beats the innocence out of Mungo in the worst possible ways.

It's a good read. An important read. There are probably people with much better reviews for this book, this is me spitballing.

Personally, the detailed descriptions for characters dealing with alcoholism were so tough for me to read because it was so realistic. It's horrifying what kinds of details one notices when a body is so ravaged by alcohol abuse.

I give it a 4.5 because the emotions I went through reading this book were so viceral, and for me personally that's one of the most important things a book like this can do.

Mungo's relationship with his mom is codependent, incestuous, and emotionally abusive. This book speaks volumes about class and poverty directly impact the cycle of abuse in families. It's painful to read about, especially when it takes the whole book and Mungo being violently assaulted twice for Mungo to realize that his mother will never love him the way he loves her. It's brutal. The phone call between Gallowgate and his mother was such a horrid moment of realization for me. 

The glimmer of hope at the end is a sigh of relief. The ride in the car with the nice man was a reprieve. Poor Mungo isn't young when he comes home. He knows his family will never be the same, Josie will go to college and never come back, Mo-maw will keep drinking and being with whatever man will give her attention, and Hamish will keep stirring shit with the Catholics. So he leaves. We don't get to know where. But he's choosing to break the cycle of abuse.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexism, Drug use, and Misogyny

Minor: Domestic abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, and Pedophilia

galerieanna25's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Death, Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Abortion, and Homophobia

mikom10's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-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

4.75

Fun fact: I tried reading this book 3x, but the first two attempts were unsuccessful because the plot was so slow.

But I had the book and figured I might as well give it another go… AND I’M GLAD I DID.

This story is definitely tough to read, as it touches on a plethora of heavy subject matter. My heart is truly aching from it, but it’s definitely worth reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Violence, Alcoholism, and Rape

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Pregnancy

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

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

joeykills's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Classism, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Outing, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Mental illness

dontwanthvn's review against another edition

challenging emotional

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Rape, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Emotional abuse

orangecasio's review

challenging dark 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

4.25

DO NOT READ THIS BOOK IF CSA IS A TRIGGER FOR YOU. 

It’s a beautiful but bitter sorry about late 20th Century Glasgow. It was really lovely seeing where I was born and grew up represented (although at a different time period). I would NOT call this a love story. It’s about two boys in love but saying it’s a love story would be misleading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Child abuse, Violence, Hate crime, Grief, and Alcoholism