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forestfloor's review
- 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
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.
Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, Rape, Alcoholism, Murder, Pedophilia, Outing, Religious bigotry, Drug abuse, and Homophobia
Moderate: Abortion and Classism
Minor: Racial slurs and Eating disorder
ladystardust1979's review
5.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Hate crime, Murder, Outing, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Violence
Moderate: Death of parent and Eating disorder
Minor: Drug use
kerryfoley's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Hate crime, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Rape
Moderate: Abortion
Minor: Eating disorder and Death of parent
jessiemessy's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Pedophilia, and Rape
Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Abortion, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Eating disorder
bps's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Animal death, Alcoholism, Blood, Murder, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Abortion, Child abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Addiction, Cursing, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
_hollysdays_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Religious bigotry, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Rape, Violence, Alcoholism, Murder, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Abortion, Homophobia, and Pedophilia
alisonannk's review against another edition
- 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? No
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Murder, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Outing, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Violence, Vomit, Excrement, and Torture
Moderate: Gore, Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, and Terminal illness
Minor: Fatphobia
papichulo00's review against another edition
- 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
the plot ~ in the book Young Mungo we follow the kind and loving 15 year old boy Mungo, and his upbringing and surroundings as a young boy in the part of Glasgow in the late 1900, where everything seems to stay the same and the time to stay still, and where masculinity, hetero normality, poverty and violence is the norm.
and in addition to this, mungo is raised, like many others in a toxic, abusive, egotistical and most of the time loveless home, which shapes him in way he couldn’t even begin to imagine.
so the main character is obviously mungo, so lets start with him ~ mungo is the youngest of three siblings which means he was the one who has been able to somewhat keep his inner child and find joy in small things like, drawing and doodling, psychical touch and giving love to everyone around him without expecting anything in return and oblivious to the sheer horrible truths about his own family, especially his mother and overall what kind of live that awaits him in Glasgows poor streets.
he is the kind of person to easily get manipulated by his brother and sister, because he always believed thee best in people.
there was nothing more shameful than being a poofter*insulting word for gay* which means powerless and soft as a woman.
his mother, Maureen, who insist on being called Mow maw is a person both i, jodie and hamish hate with all our hearts, its just mungo who has a way to big of a heart fro his own good. mow haw is a terrible and self centered mom and person, who is addicted to male attention, validation and pity, and mainly her alcoholic beverages, like this is a woman who would to almost anything from selling herself to giving away her children for a shot of vodka at this point. shes in her mid thirties and got pregnant with hamish at the ripe age of 15, and i would say that she kinda stuck at that age mentally, mainly because she seems to be under the impression thats shes SUUPER young and youthful still *my ass* and shes overall childish, egotistic and not responsible. since the father of her three kids or weans as the glaswegians say died, she has had many men in and out all the time, but no one has stuck around*i wonder why* and the only person in her life that she goes to for encouragement, comfort and forgiveness is mungo, and they mostly dont have a healthy realtionship, which is her fault.
and here are some quotes that i think sums her up ~
it seemed her happiest memories were all housed on wheels, temporary, and without foundations.
his mother had given him to a pair of child molesters with a bag of dog~eared comic books and a ludo game.
his sister Jodie and him always had a dear place in each others life, she had kind been her mom when their actual mom was out lying in a ditch or on another bender. and she had tried to take care of him and protect him, but it wasn't easy. on the bright side, jodie is really intelligent and had just enough traits from her mother to be able to be tough and defend herself too, which is ironic becasue shes the one of the siblings who argue and displays the most anger towards her mom. she had a few mistakes trough the book, the main one was sleeping with a teacher at her school, which she did for the excitement at first but after a while it was like a transaction between her and the man, he got his five minutes of sweaty fornication and she somewhat got that missing father-role in her life back, a break of all the duties and stress back home and a promise of going to college. she ended up getting knocked up, and the teacher fled like a fucking coward, and i was so fucking scared, because the life path she was going down was starting to remind me of mow haw. luckily she got a abortion and ended up getting into uni at the end, which i was so glad to hear. overall i really liked and rooted for her, and think she was a strong and positive influence for mungo.
and lastly we have the older brother hamish, or ha~ha as everyone especially his billy gang has to call him.
he is 19 and drinks, smokes and snorts speed like a grown man, i guess you can see the family resemblance.
he has a child and his girlfriend is 15 sooo thats amazing 🥲. mungo even said at some point that he wondered when he would start hitting her…*bruh*
he is extremely violent, almost sadistic in the way he finds joy in seeing others cry of pain, mainly mungo >~<.
and the reason for this i think is obviously his upbringing and childhood neglect, trauma and abuse.
and it was just perfectly fitting that he ended up being a gangleader, just like his dad was, and a young dad just as his dad.
but at the same time he does care for the people closest to him, he just like almost never shows it.
but he did, in this one moment with mungo, when they were away from the scheme and glasgow
ah dinnae mean to be so hard on you all the time.
i just feel a mental amount of pressure with the billies, with baby adrianna, and looking after you on top of it.
and then he started tugging gently at his ear, which is cute because as i mentioned earlier, mungo really likes and finds comfort in physical touch.
the style of writing ~ i really enjoyed dougla^s way of writing about mungos thoughts and feelings, it made me feel like i understood him and that i was right there with him through good and bad. it was also really interesting and different to read because the dialogs are written in either glasgowian or a scottish dialect, which made me learn alot about scottish dialect, phrases and slang and in addition i was able to read it out in my head correctly and actually imagine it. and im also really happy that even though the story switched between the loch in the middle of nowhere and in glasgow, it wasnt messy and it had mentions that were specific for that place.
if i would have a complaint it would be that it was often hard to read because it was filled with difficult wording and complicated english.
im really upset because i had written about the side characters and the main happenings and it just got deleted which is sad, but ill live..
all in all i ABSOLUTELY ADORED THIS BOOK, and i am really looking forward to read shuggie brain!!
Graphic: Misogyny, Violence, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Abortion, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Sexual assault
orndal's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Addiction, Drug abuse, Rape, Xenophobia, Sexism, Violence, Physical abuse, Animal death, Pregnancy, Murder, Misogyny, Child abuse, Bullying, Blood, Ableism, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Outing, Gore, Classism, Alcohol, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Grief, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, Death, and Animal cruelty