Reviews with content warning for Hate crime - Young Mungo

Wow. I just finished Young Mungo right now and I can’t believe the story is done. I feel sad I can’t live through Mungo’s experiences anymore but at the same time, I don’t want to experience them again either. It was written beautifully; it has you going through different waves of emotions. Jodie surprised me at the end, they all did, except Mo-Maw. Mungo is my favorite character, and so is Poor-Wee-Chickie. I give this book a 5/5 in stars. Would I read it again? No. I wouldn’t read it again because of how it made me feel. You will have moments where you want to laugh, cry, scream, squeal, etc. At times I wanted to throw the book and patch it up again. It truly is an amazing story that draws you in. It’s going on the favorites list.

Content Warnings

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This is definitely one of those books where you leave it feeling really sad and upset and worried about the characters. And it feels weird to say that you liked it because there is some real bad shit going on in this book. I wonder how the experience would have been different if I would have read this book, and not had the great narration and musicality of the accent. I want to read the other book that Mr. Stuart has written, but I think I need to take a break for a while in case Shuggie Bain is as heart-wrenching a character as Mungo is. This is definitely one that will have more trigger warnings selected than not.

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minareadsa19e1's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

Another sad book about growing up in Glasgow with an alcoholic mother.

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andrea_lachance's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

God, my feelings about this book are so complicated. Stuart writes with such lyricism and beauty that makes the extremes of violence and beauty in this book dance on a razor's edge. It's a good book. It's heartbreaking, and it is not for everyone.

The beginning of the book is slow going, trying to parce who's-who and what exactly is going on takes time. The second half really kicks into gear with gut-wrenching revelations. Mungo is a babe in the woods, and this book beats the innocence out of Mungo in the worst possible ways.

It's a good read. An important read. There are probably people with much better reviews for this book, this is me spitballing.

Personally, the detailed descriptions for characters dealing with alcoholism were so tough for me to read because it was so realistic. It's horrifying what kinds of details one notices when a body is so ravaged by alcohol abuse.

I give it a 4.5 because the emotions I went through reading this book were so viceral, and for me personally that's one of the most important things a book like this can do.

Spoiler

Mungo's relationship with his mom is codependent, incestuous, and emotionally abusive. This book speaks volumes about class and poverty directly impact the cycle of abuse in families. It's painful to read about, especially when it takes the whole book and Mungo being violently assaulted twice for Mungo to realize that his mother will never love him the way he loves her. It's brutal. The phone call between Gallowgate and his mother was such a horrid moment of realization for me.

The glimmer of hope at the end is a sigh of relief. The ride in the car with the nice man was a reprieve. Poor Mungo isn't young when he comes home. He knows his family will never be the same, Josie will go to college and never come back, Mo-maw will keep drinking and being with whatever man will give her attention, and Hamish will keep stirring shit with the Catholics. So he leaves. We don't get to know where. But he's choosing to break the cycle of abuse.

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joeykills's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

1.0

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terrificarno's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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orangecasio's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

DO NOT READ THIS BOOK IF CSA IS A TRIGGER FOR YOU.

It’s a beautiful but bitter sorry about late 20th Century Glasgow. It was really lovely seeing where I was born and grew up represented (although at a different time period). I would NOT call this a love story. It’s about two boys in love but saying it’s a love story would be misleading.

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kelliebell's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad medium-paced

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

3.5

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