Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

108 reviews

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

jaiari12's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual content, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Religious bigotry, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Violence, Alcoholism, and Homophobia

Moderate: Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, and Abortion

johannamrr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.0

first of all, this book needs a fucking content warning jesus christ
anywayyy, the pacing was a bit off for the first 150 pages in my opinion bc nothing happened and it was getting slightly boring imo 
the writing is great though it‘s just the plot (and how graphic it is) that I struggled with
also, this book is advertised in such a weird way?? like people need to start making it clear when a book is as violent as this one is because they really didn‘t and I don‘t like when stuff like this is being jumped on me (my bad for not looking up the content warnings first, i guess)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Violence, Abandonment, Murder, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Hate crime, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Abortion, and Physical abuse

mabs_grace's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

There were parts of this book that I liked as much as a 5 star read, but the toxic masculinity and abusive nature of the characters really started to piss me off by the time I was half way through the book. I loved the writing, it was beautiful but god damn I almost DNF’d this one. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Homophobia, Murder, and Rape

Moderate: Miscarriage and Abortion

tammiebreads's review against another edition

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Alcohol, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Hate crime, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Addiction, Death, Physical abuse, and Abortion

tarnya_smith's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

We follow Mungo, the youngest of 3 siblings to an absent father and a drunk mother who is intermittent and unreliable. Mungo tries to stay in school, navigate gang expectations from his older brother, keep connected with his mother and make friends. You really feel for Mungo and his want to escape this life and when he finds his reason and chance, you can't help but hope it's not too good to be true. 

I'd never read anything before with such a distinctive Glaswegian voice and the audiobook really helped with that. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Addiction, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Alcohol, and Violence

priceliketag's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Alcohol, Grief, Alcoholism, Rape, Child abuse, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Hate crime

Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty

introverted_reads's review

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

5.0

I am going to have to pore over this with a pencil. 10/10, cried a few times, prose is beautiful I need to write a full review 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Religious bigotry, Rape, Abortion, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Violence, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Homophobia, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy, Abandonment, Drug use, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Outing, Miscarriage, and Death of parent

saturnalyx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

A hard book to swallow because you basically grow up with the character through his potent adolescent year, and the trauma he faced can never be undone.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcohol, Homophobia, Child abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Abortion

rebecca_cant_read's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, Addiction, Violence, Sexual violence, Blood, Alcohol, Classism, Death, and Pedophilia