Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

58 reviews

torismazarine's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

forestfloor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I honestly don't know how to start this review... I've just finished reading. I feel gutted and hollowed out. It's beautifully heart wrenching. 

Reading this made me feel like I had a cord tied to my diaphragm and someone was continually tugging at it, there's something terribly tender about it. The characters come to life with a brutal realism and the descriptive prose is absolutely gorgeous, like I was reading a film. It's praise when I say that I wanted the plot to leave Mungo alone a bit, only a reflection of how deeply the writing pulled me to care for him. 

The plot starts off slow and as the mystery of what got Mungo from the "before" timeline into the "after" setting unravels, the pace picks up. It's tense and I think it's a really good structure for the story. However, the main thing that stops me from giving this 5.0 stars is that there's not a lot of clarity or warning about how the plot jumps between timelines and different character's points of view. I think that honestly, just formatting with that little squiggle some books use between two paragraphs would've solved that for me. 

I also wished that it would've held on just a little longer before ending. Just enough to know for sure that Mungo could follow that set of splinted, beckoning fingers to safety. Instead, the ending is a bittersweet, trembling thing, a silver through a cloud that promises of sunshine and the clearing of rain, but could just as easily be covered again by a drab blanket of grey. I do think that the ending suits the story, no matter how selfishly I wanted to see Mungo and James definitively safe, on a bus together. 

I also have to say, just to be clear, that this is a heavy read. I saw it described as a gay, Glaswegian, Romeo and Juliet and I can't emphasise enough how much that refers the violence of the play, as well as the romance. Definitely read the trigger warnings before deciding to pick this book up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, Outing, and Abandonment

Moderate: Abortion and Classism

Minor: Eating disorder and Racial slurs

senoyreve's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I found young mungo started slow, it dragged on, and honestly I felt I wouldn't be finishing it. then along came James, the writing flourishes after James is introduced, because I think that Stuarts main strength lies in his descriptive prose, even in the beginning the descriptions of the landscapes, characters, or actions kept me enthralled. the book is wonderful because you can feel like your in mungo's shoes, looking at the world through his lens, it never breaks even if you are seeing it from an outside perspective. there is a beauty in every page of this book, even the violent ones the undercurrent of beauty lies. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Death of parent, Outing, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

oscarlavista's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Reading Young Mungo was like slowly moving your hand closer and closer to a hot stove; You know it's going to hurt, it's probably going to leave a mark, you might cry, but at the end of that you're going to have learned something even if it was the most painful way to learn. It's tense, stomach knotting writing that was an unbelievable joy to read even if it hurt the entire time. 

It's simply a masterpiece. I've not read anything like this before and I will probably never read anything like it again. It's the best worst time I've ever had. Now I'm off to have a good cry 😢

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Incest and Self harm

nineinchnails's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

i was prepared for this to be a little depressing but i was taken aback by how heavy the actual content was so i definitely suggest checking the trigger warnings before picking this up. it's a testament to douglas' talent that i repeatedly felt physically nauseous while reading. the imagery is incredibly vivid and i felt like i was right there - unfortunately this was also the case for the fishing trip chapters. despite the bleakness of the novel, james and mungo were incredibly sweet and i couldn't help feeling anxious for the two of them. mungo is a tender soul in a very cruel world!! i just wanted to protect him

all of the characters were well developed and fleshed out but jodie was particularly interesting to read about. she was one of the only characters to treat mungo with love and care relatively consistently. she was something of a mother figure to him, despite only being a year older - to me this shone a light on mungo's naivete as well as jodie's parentification. they had a teenage brother but the responsibility of raising and caring for the two of them still fell on her shoulders alone. jodie "hated" their mother, but

was the one who almost repeated her mistakes - a case could be made for hamish but it's not really comparable (in my opinion) as women are required to sacrifice so much more to raise children,

even more so 3 decades ago. even though she was arguably the most kind and loving towards mungo

she was far from accepting of his sexuality when he told her - this feels much more like a consequence of the world they live in than a judgement on her character, however. i got the impression she was scared for him, not disgusted with him

. i think the novel ended with

mungo slightly bitter towards her because he felt much more hurt by her rejection than anyone else's - "If Jodie, of all people, could not love him, all of him, perhaps he could not be loved."

really highlights this.

mungo seems to be endlessly loving, endlessly obedient, and endlessly forgiving. it's painful to see him repeatedly get taken advantage of by the people in his life. his mother has pretty much no redeeming qualities and just seems to take and take with no regard for the wellbeing of her own children. getting to the end and finding out

the full context behind her sending him away with those men is absolutely sickening

i came out of it absolutely hating her guts after starting it disliking  and mildly pitying her. on the other hand, there's hamish who is violent and abusive. their father died before mungo was born, so hamish is the closest thing he has to a father figure and mungo loves him in spite of the way he treats him. mungo doesn't embrace masculinity the way his older brother does, and it seems to be an endless source of frustration for hamish. he brings up needing to "toughen him up" constantly, and i got the impression that some part of him genuinely thinks he is acting in his brother's best interests. it doesn't excuse his behaviour but he is more redeemable (to me) than their mother, who doesn't seem to care about anyone other than herself.

the ending of the fishing trip did feel a little dissonant considering the overall tone of the novel and the characterisation of mungo up to this point. of course, he was put in a situation where he had few options and i am more than relieved that he ended up

killing his rapists. i pray for every rapist to meet the very same fate

so i'm not upset at all at how it ended, outside of it feeling like it didn't quite fit the story/character. i didn't mind it (and absolutely wouldn't recommend it being amended, since the setting is very much crucial to the story being told) but there is a lot of scottish slang and i struggled a little even as a british reader but you do get used to it. 

i didn't expect to tear up for the reason that i did when i finished this. it was very shocking while also making complete sense for

hamish to take mungo's place with the police

and i am probably wildly delusional but i saw it as a sign that he loves him deeply, in his own way. it could absolutely be a show of masculinity or family loyalty but i'm choosing to be an optimist after all the misery and desolation of this book. all in all i would highly recommend this book given you check the trigger warnings!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Abortion, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Cancer, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Child sexual abuse, Grooming, Child neglect, Poverty, Student/Teacher relationship, Backstreet/unsafe abortion, and Prostitution/sex work

tenderdispatches's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Toxic relationship, and Classism

pencilspeaker's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Abandonment, and Classism

Minor: Abortion, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

juliep810's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Pregnancy, Outing, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

jdrummond's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

It took me a bit to get into this, but once the story kicked in, it’s hard to forget Mungo Hamilton and James Jameson. I hope they, and those like them, found their place in the world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Outing, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, and Classism

emmaura's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

Struggling to give a rating. This book is incredibly violent and miserable and I didnt enjoy reading most of it, but having finished it I do really the value of having read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Abandonment

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Abortion, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use and Classism