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A review by jullietteh
Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
Wow. This book is so emotionally gritty. It’s raw, scalding, beautiful, violent, and tender.
We enter into the story unsure of where we are with Mungo and why we are there with these two strange men. The way the story all ties together in the end, panning back and north between the past and present was gorgeously done.
The family drama is like fort car accident you can’t look away from. Mo-Maw is an infuriating drunk. Hamish is terribly destructive and cruel. Jodie is a yearning, motherly child.
I would saw the subject of this story isn’t love, but violence. Violence’s relationship to masculinity, femininity, parenting, domesticity, and queerness were all explored. I found my self grappling with when might violence be necessarily for survival? It made me think about the power of tenderness like Mr. Calhoun and Calum. It made me sensitive to different sensations of touch. Ultimately, Young Mungo’s final moments gave me the hope that there still might be a softness that lives on amongst all the hardness that lives inside of us. It made me look forward to something good always waiting for you on the other side of darkness.
We enter into the story unsure of where we are with Mungo and why we are there with these two strange men. The way the story all ties together in the end, panning back and north between the past and present was gorgeously done.
The family drama is like fort car accident you can’t look away from. Mo-Maw is an infuriating drunk. Hamish is terribly destructive and cruel. Jodie is a yearning, motherly child.
I would saw the subject of this story isn’t love, but violence. Violence’s relationship to masculinity, femininity, parenting, domesticity, and queerness were all explored. I found my self grappling with when might violence be necessarily for survival? It made me think about the power of tenderness like Mr. Calhoun and Calum. It made me sensitive to different sensations of touch. Ultimately, Young Mungo’s final moments gave me the hope that there still might be a softness that lives on amongst all the hardness that lives inside of us. It made me look forward to something good always waiting for you on the other side of darkness.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault