A review by becca_thegrimreader
Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Douglas Stuart broke my heart with this book. A tender, breathtaking, and gorgeously written book, I have no doubt that readers will fall in love with “Yung Mungo.” 

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I preferred this book to “Shuggie Bain.” Both books have a lot of similarities, and I will say that when I began reading this I thought that it was almost going to be an exact replica of his previous book.  We have the same family dynamic of an alcoholic mother with three children. Mungo is the youngest child devoted to his mother, and I did question at the beginning if this was almost imagining a slightly older Shuggie. I have read some reviews that have been disappointed that this revisits a lot of the same themes or material from his previous book, but I think that the focus is different here. 

Mungo is a fifteen year old boy who doesn’t fit in. He struggles at school, has a facial tick, and is abandoned for long periods of time by his mother. We see throughout the book how many characters tell him to “man-up” and see this toxic masculinity fester within him. From his brother demanding him to take part in gang fights, to his sister waiting for him to grow up and take charge, Mungo is torn between what others want from him and his own nature. Then he meets Jamie who demands nothing from him, and both boys can each be themselves in each other’s company. This leads to a lovingly told relationship between the boys. 

This book is told in two halves, one told from the point of view of the months leading up to Mungo’s relationship with James and the relationship itself, and the other being the aftermath of the relationship where Mungo is sent off on a fishing trip to learn to become a man. We switch between both narratives throughout the book, until our timeline comes to an end in the last chapter which is painfully beautiful and devastating. This book is one that will stay with me, and I will reread for it’s beauty and tragedy. 
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