Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

33 reviews

remimicha's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Addiction, Abortion, Ableism, Abandonment, Drug use, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Classism, Bullying, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Outing, Child abuse, Blood, Animal death, Murder, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Mental illness, Medical content, Homophobia, Hate crime, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Infidelity

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

pierrojenesais's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

“Young Mungo” creates a great depiction of how toxic masculinity treats young boys in society. My love for Mungo is deeper than a fictional character should be able to make me feel. But his love and suffering feels too real and I can’t help it. He will surely haunt my mind for a long time.
Also this book stomped on my heart so many times I felt like it couldn’t get worse. It did. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Homophobia, Gaslighting, Animal death, Sexual content, Violence, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Death, Abandonment, Pedophilia, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Abortion, and Domestic abuse

sarajain's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I want to begin with some serious trigger warnings.  GRAPHIC rape scenes. If you are a victim of abuse or SA, please read with caution. The writing was incredibly detailed during these scenes. I'm honestly suprised most reviews don't even mention this issue.  It's pretty disturbing to read and I struggled to complete this book.

The rest of the content is fine, it's very relatable as a queer story,  the alienation, the bullying, the danger of being a gay teen is well captured. The characters are well written and I enjoyed the snippets of humour throughout.

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Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: Cursing, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Bullying, and Addiction

em_h_ma's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Gore, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

samstar's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Addiction, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Drug use, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Classism, Blood, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Murder, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

pstillbejeweled's review against another edition

Well, I was looking for romance and this was not for me. RARELY happy a moment. Of course, I have read the reviews and TWs but there are MORE disturbing contents than I expected, my wee heart cannae take it 💔 the timeline shift is jarring and doesn't add anything to the novel btw 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Rape, Bullying, Death, Murder, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexism, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Body horror, and Child abuse

belfrybatz's review against another edition

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Murder, Self harm, Sexual violence, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Torture, Violence, Abortion, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug use, Homophobia, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Hate crime, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Bullying, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, and Pedophilia

alouette's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad 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

5.0

CHECK CWs

this is a very difficult, very beautiful novel. i don't think i would've been able to make it through if i related any more to the characters (or was less able to numb myself to their pain). they are all such complicated, broken people and the fact that no one could protect Mungo had me in tears. even when he had to do what he did to protect himself, all i felt was sadness. i had to hold on really tight to the comfort of Mungo's relationships with James and with his sister <3

for all the darkness, my favourite part was the chance for us as readers to choose a happy ending in the implications of the very last scene. the world was and is and will be fill of terrible cultures and places and people, but we will find reasons to keep going. 

my second favourite part was when Mungo kissed James and thought "maybe if lord of the flies had been more like this he would've paid more attention." same, bud, same

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, Animal death, Violence, Sexual content, Sexism, Death, Grief, Blood, Rape, Murder, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Vomit, Xenophobia, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Police brutality

emily_parris's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Rape, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Homophobia

Moderate: Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Abortion, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Cursing

Minor: Death of parent