Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

46 reviews

kayarosee'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

4.0

This was a hard and heartbreaking book to read. I resonated a lot with the character of Jodie as an older sister myself and saw my younger brother in the main character Mungo. It took me a lot longer to read than many other books this year. But a heart-wrenching novel. I would call this the more depressing, more poverty-stricken “Call Me by Your Name”. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Blood, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Alcohol, Murder, Homophobia, Abandonment, Addiction, Rape, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, and Pedophilia

marshzz's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

5.0

this book is incredible.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Addiction, Rape, and Homophobia

Moderate: Abortion and Drug abuse

mona_ambt's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

DNF at p238 (end of chap 16)

I am unfortunately unable to finish Young Mungo because it's too emotionally challenging and I'm so not in the right state of mind for it, but i do want to know the ending. (Probably means I'll never come around to reading A Little Life either, which is sad)
I went into it not really knowing what it's about and maybe, just maybe I should've thought of checking the trigger warnings. 

With all that said, this book follows the story of Mungo in Glasgow. He meets James with whom he falls in love, or feels an illicit attraction for. He is sent away to a fishing week-end with 2 men from the AA, after being found out by his mother. 
The story is cut into two times intermingling: Mungo and James's meeting and the week-end away.
I quickly enough got attached to the characters and their (ever-present) struggles and I could have cried too many times to be counted. 

If you want to be sad and revolted against the whole world, read Young Mungo.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Rape, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, and Abortion

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

forestfloor's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

I honestly don't know how to start this review... I've just finished reading. I feel gutted and hollowed out. It's beautifully heart wrenching. 

Reading this made me feel like I had a cord tied to my diaphragm and someone was continually tugging at it, there's something terribly tender about it. The characters come to life with a brutal realism and the descriptive prose is absolutely gorgeous, like I was reading a film. It's praise when I say that I wanted the plot to leave Mungo alone a bit, only a reflection of how deeply the writing pulled me to care for him. 

The plot starts off slow and as the mystery of what got Mungo from the "before" timeline into the "after" setting unravels, the pace picks up. It's tense and I think it's a really good structure for the story. However, the main thing that stops me from giving this 5.0 stars is that there's not a lot of clarity or warning about how the plot jumps between timelines and different character's points of view. I think that honestly, just formatting with that little squiggle some books use between two paragraphs would've solved that for me. 

I also wished that it would've held on just a little longer before ending. Just enough to know for sure that Mungo could follow that set of splinted, beckoning fingers to safety. Instead, the ending is a bittersweet, trembling thing, a silver through a cloud that promises of sunshine and the clearing of rain, but could just as easily be covered again by a drab blanket of grey. I do think that the ending suits the story, no matter how selfishly I wanted to see Mungo and James definitively safe, on a bus together. 

I also have to say, just to be clear, that this is a heavy read. I saw it described as a gay, Glaswegian, Romeo and Juliet and I can't emphasise enough how much that refers the violence of the play, as well as the romance. Definitely read the trigger warnings before deciding to pick this book up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, Rape, Alcoholism, Murder, Pedophilia, Outing, Religious bigotry, Drug abuse, and Homophobia

Moderate: Abortion and Classism

Minor: Racial slurs and Eating disorder

oscarlavista's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

Reading Young Mungo was like slowly moving your hand closer and closer to a hot stove; You know it's going to hurt, it's probably going to leave a mark, you might cry, but at the end of that you're going to have learned something even if it was the most painful way to learn. It's tense, stomach knotting writing that was an unbelievable joy to read even if it hurt the entire time. 

It's simply a masterpiece. I've not read anything like this before and I will probably never read anything like it again. It's the best worst time I've ever had. Now I'm off to have a good cry 😢

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Homophobia, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Classism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Pedophilia, Confinement, Cursing, Hate crime, Violence, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Animal death, Sexual violence, Rape, Murder, Alcohol, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse

Minor: Incest and Self harm

niduran's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Dieses Buch... war heftig. Ich glaub ich bin traumatisiert. Keine Ahnung wie man ein Buch schreiben kann das so abgrundtief widerlich ist. Das Setting ist deprimierend und schmutzig, die Leute sind gemein und widerwärtig, alles ist voller Gewalt und Missbrauch und es so gut geschrieben, dass man es wirklich FÜHLT. 
Diese Vergewaltigungsszenen sind wirklich hart. Ich würde mich eigentlich in der Hinsicht nicht als besonders sensibel bezeichnen aber ach du fucking scheiße. Mein Herz wurde gebrochen und ich bin sauer. Sehr sauer. Was für verdammte hurensöhne. Es macht mich richtig glücklich dass sie beide gestorben sind. Aber eigentlich war das nicht genug. Sie hätten schlimmeres verdient. Viel schlimmeres. 
Und jodies Affäre mit ihrem Lehrer und der Schwangerschaft hat mich auch  wirklich angeekelt. Widerwärtig.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Minor: Abortion

blues'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Che viaggio spettacolare. Questo libro mi ha catapultato in una Scozia degli anni 80-90, in un ambiente chiuso, iper-mascolinizzato e religioso (con annesse lotte tra la parte protestante e la parte cristiana) e me l'ha fatto sentire a 360 gradi. Mi ha fatto conoscere Mungo, ma con lui anche tante altre persone con cui sono riuscito ad empatizzare, nonostante questi non fossero sempre personaggi molto positivi. Vediamo questi personaggi sia nei momenti "pieni" di trama, sia in quei momenti di quotidianità (soprattutto Mungo ovviamente), il che ci aiuta molto a capirli meglio, a capire come ragionano e quali sono i loro punti di forza e le loro insicurezze. 
Ho adorato particolarmente tutte le metafore che Douglas Stuart ha utilizzato per descrivere i sentimenti di Mungo e di tutti questi personaggi, facendomi sempre capire appieno la sensazione che voleva trasmettermi. 
Un'altra cosa che ho amato sono le descrizioni degli ambienti: riuscivo davvero a sentirmi dentro ai posti che raccontava. Non solo li vedevo nella mia testa, ma ne sentivo anche gli odori, i rumori e i sapori. Ero davvero insieme ai personaggi.
Questo libro mi ha preso il cuore e me l'ha strappato in mille pezzi, ma mi ha anche lasciato una parte di Mungo, che si muoverà con me ovunque io andrò. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Outing, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Homophobia, Murder, Pregnancy, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Sexism

Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Death, Blood, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Bullying, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Animal cruelty, and Animal death

Minor: Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Grief

ghsr's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Homophobia, and Pregnancy

jdrummond's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

It took me a bit to get into this, but once the story kicked in, it’s hard to forget Mungo Hamilton and James Jameson. I hope they, and those like them, found their place in the world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Rape, Homophobia, Murder, Death, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Blood, Outing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Violence, Bullying, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, and Classism