Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart is a gritty and heartbreaking story set in working-class Glasgow, focusing on the life of a 15-year-old boy named Mungo. Living with his alcoholic mother, abusive brother, and genius sister in the post-Thatcher years, Mungo navigates through domestic abuse, alcoholism, and sectarian violence in his community. The novel delves into themes of difficult family relationships, queerness, masculinity, and finding tenderness in harsh environments, particularly exploring Mungo's forbidden and dangerous love for his Catholic neighbor, James.
The writing style of Young Mungo has been praised for its ability to evoke strong emotions in readers, making them feel fully immersed in the scenes throughout the book. The narrative captures the innocence of young love, the brutal realities of life in 1990s Glasgow, and the complexities of relationships within a dysfunctional family, creating a hard but beautiful read that lingers with the reader long after finishing the book.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Young Mungo contains high content warnings due to its themes of violence, domestic abuse, and child neglect.
Has Romance?
Yes, there is a significant romantic element in Young Mungo, particularly the loving relationship between Mungo and James.
From The Publisher:
A story of queer love and working-class families, Young Mungo is the brilliant second novel from the Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain
Douglas Stuart's first novel Shuggie Bain, winner of the 2020 Booker Prize, is one of the most successful literary debuts of the century so far. Published or forthcoming in forty territories, it has sold more than one million copies worldwide. Now Stuart returns with Young Mungo, his extraordinary second novel. Both a page-turner and literary tour de force, it 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.
Growing up in a housing estate in Glasgow, Mungo and James are born under different stars-Mungo a Protestant and James a Catholic-and they should be sworn enemies if they're to be seen as men at all. Yet against all odds, they 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 finding somewhere they belong, while Mungo works hard to hide his true self from all those around him, especially from his big brother Hamish, a local gang leader with a brutal reputation to uphold. And when several months later 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 try 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 divisions of sectarianism, the violence faced by many queer people, and the dangers of loving someone too much.
Ratings (19)
Incredible (5) | |
Loved It (10) | |
Liked It (4) |
Reader Stats (50):
Read It (19) | |
Want To Read (26) | |
Not Interested (5) |
1 comment(s)
I decided not to rate this as I'm not sure if it was the audiobook I didn't gel with or if it was the writing style itself. I have Shuggie Brain 5 stars and had hoped I would do the same with this. But might sit on it for a while and then pick it up in physical form an try again in the future
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Young Mungo?
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