3.5/5

Equally as difficult to read as to put down in a way I haven’t experienced since A Little Life. Unbearable at points. Do NOT reco as a vacation read. 🥲

all i want is for mungo to find peace. i hope he does

stuck between 3,5☆ & 4☆

Why is homophobia like this?

Messed up but also the kind of book high school English teachers would make students read.

Really thought I would love this:( it was fine, I liked the portrayal of toxic masculinity but of course with that comes intense misogyny and from a male author that felt odd! I feel like the characters weren’t quite fully realized, I wish there was a bit more depth to Jodie and Hamish! It was good and the writing was pretty just not for me (never thought I would say that about a sad gay book)

This book took me really long to finish. I couldn’t really get into the story. That the book is “written in Scottish” might’ve been a reason for that.

Towards the end I enjoyed reading the book though and started to get into it but then it was suddenly over… The end was in my opinion very abruptly.

My review is a little late but I found this book so deeply and incredibly moving I could barely put it down. Setting again acts as a character of it’s own in Douglas Stuart’s follow up to Shuggie Bain - with a rich, engaging plot following a young Mungo Hamilton, growing up through a devastating childhood in Glasgow. What follows is an intimate look at his life and the impact his decisions and upbringing have on his relationships and future. It’s rare a book has such a profound impact on me but Stuart continues to beautifully and poetically tear my heart up and piece it back together.

So I read Shuggie Bain in January and it instantly became a 5 star/ one of the best books I’ve read of all time. When I put the pieces of my heart back together from that novel I decided to pick up Young Mungo.

Douglas Stuart has a way of writing characters that are so gentle and fragile yet sharp and beautiful, the entire time reading Young Mungo I was holding a breath with tense shoulders. Another absolutely heartbreaking story that will be stuck in my brain alongside Shuggie Bain.

Needless to say Douglas Stuart is a powerhouse for evocative writing and has now become an instant buy author. I will also be sending him my therapy bills ◡̈

I’ll open this review by saying that this is the first time I’ve read any of Stuart’s work so I didn’t know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised by what I discovered within the pages of Young Mungo. I struggled with the first chapter, but once I got past that point, I was absorbed into East End Glasgow life. There are two narrative arcs within Stuart’s text - the fishing trip with St Christopher and Gallowgate, and the past - Mungo’s life growing up with his absentee alcoholic mother, ambitious sister Jodie and gang leader brother, Hamish. There were elements of Mungo’s story that I could relate to, that desire for a functional family, and the internal thrill of first love. At times, elements of the plot were troubling to read, namely repeated instances of sexual assault which was not something that I was expecting, but I was compelled to keep reading to see how the story played out and I was not disappointed when I finished the book. It is definitely a book I’d read again, perhaps when I’ve finished my current stack of books. Young Mungo is a tale of family, love and working class communities, and the violence that comes along with living against these backgrounds.

3.5 stars.

This is hard to review. I actually really didn’t enjoy reading this book. A lot of the time I couldn’t even get through an entire chapter. It was gruesome and absolutely gut wrenching. But even tho I didn’t enjoy it, I think it’s really very good. But strap in, it’s a rough ride from start to finish.

In a similar vein to Shuggie Bain, Young Mungo is a compelling and touching exploration of love, difference, violence and poverty - both financial, and of expectations.

This story is heart-wrenching. Romeo and Juliete except queer and working-class set in Glasgow Scotland. It’s like a Front Bottoms song with a cello. Four stars.

real rating: 2.5 stars objectively a brilliantly crafted novel; subjectively i could not connect with the characters

This book was good and Stuart’s writing is fantastic, but it feels more like something i’d reread because I was writing a paper on it instead of just for pleasure. If that makes sense

Devastating