Name: Sara's review of Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart
Item: Young Mungo
Rating: 1.5
Author: Sara

Douglas Stuart

The brilliant new novel from the Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain

Young Mungo

Iris van der zanden

He knew if they caught him staring they would have a hundred names for him before he had a name for himself.

Dylan Williams

None of the men could tell ye how they really felt, because if they did, they would weep, and this fuckin' city is damp enough.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

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.

Sara

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.

Sarah McGrath

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 ◡̈ 

jaz ☁️

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 ◡̈ 

From Booker-prizewinner Douglas Stuart an extraordinary, page-turning second novel, a vivid portrayal of working-class life and a highly suspenseful story of the dangerous first love of two young men: Mungo and James. Born under different stars, Protestant Mungo and Catholic James live in the hyper-masculine and violently sectarian world of Glasgow's housing estates. They should be sworn enemies if they're to be seen as men at all, and yet they become best friends as they find a sanctuary in the pigeon dovecote that James has built for his prize racing birds. As they find themselves falling in love, they dream of escaping the grey city, and Mungo works especially hard to hide his true self from all those around him, especially from his elder brother Hamish, a local gang leader with a brutal reputation to uphold. But the threat of discovery is constant and the punishment unspeakable. When Mungo's mother sends him on a fishing trip to a loch in Western Scotland with two strange men whose drunken banter belies murky pasts, he will need to summon all his inner strength and courage to get back to a place of safety, a place where he and James might still have a future. Imbuing the everyday world of its characters with rich lyricism and giving full voice to people rarely acknowledged in literary fiction, Douglas Stuart's Young Mungo is a gripping and revealing story about the bounds of masculinity, the push and pull of family, the violence faced by so many queer people, and the dangers of loving someone too much.

Emily Gay

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.

A young boy in Glasgow struggles with a broken family, the violence around him, sexuality in this raw narration with little to no regard for sugar coating anything.

Heartbreaking but yet hopeful, you want to look away but Mungo's story is gripping. 

CW: alcoholism, child abuse, csa, graphic violence

Céleste 

A young boy in Glasgow struggles with a broken family, the violence around him, sexuality in this raw narration with little to no regard for sugar coating anything.

Heartbreaking but yet hopeful, you want to look away but Mungo's story is gripping. 

CW: alcoholism, child abuse, csa, graphic violence

Hellboy TCR

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. 

The brilliant new novel from the Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain. Douglas Stuart's first novel Shuggie Bain is one of the most successful literary debuts of the century so far. It was awarded the 2020 Booker Prize, and is now published or forthcoming in forty territories and has already sold more than a million copies worldwide. Now Stuart returns with Young Mungo, his extraordinary second novel. Both a page-turner and literary tour de force, Young Mungo is a vivid portrayal of working-class life and a deeply moving and highly suspenseful story of the dangerous first love of two young men: Mungo and James. Born under different stars--Mungo a Protestant and James a Catholic--they should be sworn enemies if they're to be seen as men at all. And yet against all odds Mungo and James become best friends as they find a sanctuary in the pigeon dovecote that James has built for his prize racing birds. As they fall in love, they dream of escaping the grey city, and Mungo works especially hard to hide his true self from all those around him, especially from his elder brother Hamish, a local gang leader with a brutal reputation to uphold. But the threat of discovery is constant and the punishment unspeakable. When Mungo's mother sends him on a fishing trip to a loch in Western Scotland with two strange men whose drunken banter belies murky pasts, he will need to summon all his inner strength and courage to get back to a place of safety, a place where he and James might still have a future. Imbuing the everyday world of its characters with rich lyricism and giving full voice to people rarely acknowledged in the literary world, Young Mungo is a gripping and revealing story about the bounds of masculinity, the push and pull of family, the violence faced by many queer people, and the dangers of loving someone too much. It is set to stand alongside Shuggie Bain as a modern classic.

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.

Laura Dobie

Latitude Tamarind

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.

l.h.

real rating: 2.5 stars

objectively a brilliantly crafted novel; subjectively i could not connect with the characters

Ethan Hill

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

Michelle Guo

Marsh

Aaron Lewis

LIMEKI 

Houssine Benboubker

Erin O’Donnell

James Haliburton

From Booker Prize-winner Douglas Stuart, an extraordinary, page-turning second novel, a vivid portrayal of working-class life and a highly suspenseful story of the dangerous first love of two young men: Mungo and James. Born under different stars, Protestant Mungo and Catholic James live in the hyper-masculine and violently sectarian world of Glasgow’s housing estates. They should be sworn enemies if they’re to be seen as men at all, and yet they become best friends as they find a sanctuary in the pigeon dovecote that James has built for his prize racing birds. As they find themselves falling in love, they dream of escaping the grey city, and Mungo works especially hard to hide his true self from all those around him, especially from his elder brother Hamish, a local gang leader with a brutal reputation to uphold. But the threat of discovery is constant and the punishment unspeakable. When Mungo’s mother sends him on a fishing trip to a loch in Western Scotland with two strange men whose drunken banter belies murky pasts, he will need to summon all his inner strength and courage to get back to a place of safety, a place where he and James might still have a future. Imbuing the everyday world of its characters with rich lyricism and giving full voice to people rarely acknowledged in literary fiction, Douglas Stuart’s Young Mungo is a gripping and revealing story about the bounds of masculinity, the push and pull of family, the violence faced by so many queer people, and the dangers of loving someone too much.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

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Join the club

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart