Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

21 reviews

bookmark3brodi's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, Addiction, Abandonment, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Hate crime, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Police brutality, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Abortion, Violence, Religious bigotry, Grief, and Pregnancy

bookdragon137's review against another edition

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

4.0

I skimmed this one besties. Will have to go back and read it properly sometime, but I was very much not in the mood for how sad it was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Murder, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Rape, Child abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, and Violence

Moderate: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Pregnancy, Addiction, Outing, and Police brutality

karitu3's review

challenging dark emotional reflective 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

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Blood, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Self harm, Violence, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Alcoholism, and Sexual violence

tossabunch's review

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Police brutality, and Murder

torismazarine's review against another edition

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Murder, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Gaslighting, Religious bigotry, Blood, Classism, Cursing, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Outing, Violence, Abortion, Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Police brutality

pikkumarja's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

As a stand-alone, this is a great book but as a part of the literature and queer books I find it sad that gay men are always characters in sad, hopeless stories (this was not totally hopeless but mainly hopeless). The story made me sad and angry. I added tons of content warnings in this review and I think that tells you something.

The writing was dark, detailed and disgusting - loved it! Finnish translation was amazing too!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Alcoholism, Violence, Murder, Pedophilia, and Homophobia

Moderate: Police brutality, Animal cruelty, and Blood

Minor: Abortion

exquis's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Rape, Miscarriage, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Child abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Violence, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry

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

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

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.  

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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