Mungo is fourteen and lives on a housing estate in Glasgow, Scotland. His mother had the children young, only twenty when Mungo the youngest was born. She is an alcoholic who is rarely home, off with men who will keep her supplied with drink. Mungo's oldest brother, Hamish, is eighteen. He is the leader of a group of Protestant boys who fight with Catholics and immigrants. Hamish already is a father and spends most of his time with his young girlfriend and baby. That leaves Mungo alone most often with his big sister Jodie. Jodie is smart and yearns to go to college one day if she can break free.

Lonely most of the time, Mungo meets James. James lives with his father but his father works on the oil rigs, away for weeks at a time, leaving James to live alone. His family is Catholic so he and Mungo should never be friends according to those around him. James raises pigeons and the boys bond over their care. Eventually the friendship turns romantic although both boys are ashamed of their love for each other.

There are two main stories that intertwine in the book. One is the friendship between Mungo and James and how that progresses over time and the other is a weekend that Mungo spends camping with two old men. His mother has sent him away with them, saying they will show Mungo how to fish and survive in the woods but really because they provided her with money to buy the drink she cannot live without. What happens on that trip will affect Mungo's life forever.

Douglas Stuart got off to a huge start in the literary world. His first book, Shuggie Bain, won the Booker Prize which is unheard of. This book echoes many of the same themes, the Scottish lower class families, the enmity between the two religions and homosexual love. The book is lyrical and the reader will just want to reach into the pages and save Mungo from the disasters one can see coming for him. I'm looking forward to Stuart's third book to see if he can break away from this environment and write about different things. This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.

A thoughtful and moving coming-of-age story about gay identity, discrimination, and the challenge of choosing between love and safety in a homophobic community.

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.

I don't think it's a secret anymore that Douglas Stuart writes incredibly depressing fiction. He writes it incredibly, incredibly well. but the modus operandi seems to always be the same: whatever horrible thing could happen to the characters WILL happen. Does this make the prose any less beautiful? Absolutely not. Does it disrupt the experience of meeting the characters and be engulfged in the story? For me, it definitely does. I feel like I already know everyone's deepest secrets and can tell exactly where each character will end up after the first chapter.

All that aside though, it's still an amazing novel.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the ARC
I dfn this one, I don't remember at what point in the story. Normally I don't mind dark books, but this one was overwhelming to me, with all the depressive feelings. Definitely a read that many people will enjoy since it has a lot of good reviews, not for me...But trust me, it is good if you like this kind of books.

I really enjoyed this book. The writing and characters really stood out to me, as did the setting. It felt alive.

A beautifully written novel. I felt totally captivated by the characters and honestly couldn’t put it down. Such an emotional read. I cant wait to read more!!

I thought that this book wasn't anything like I would have expected it to be. I liked the writing, although I felt that it was long at some parts. There are also some trigger warnings for this book, to those that want to read it.

4.5 stars!

Douglas Stuart’s second book, Young Mungo, is set in Glasgow, just like his first, Shuggie Bain. But while I was annoyed with Shuggie Bain, I ended up loving Young Mungo.

Mungo Hamilton lives with his older sister and mother while his brother has left what you could call the nest. His mother, however, oscillates between being a mother and being a teenage woman, having had them at a young age, she wants to live her life more freely than she can. The people of the town are of the heteronormative notion that you have to be a man once you turn 16, go out into the real world, do some things, and not do some others.

When Mungo becomes close to James, a boy living nearby, his mother sends away on a fishing trip with two men, thinking that they will teach him to be a ‘real man’ by showing him how to fish. 15-year-old Mungo doesn’t have a choice and leaves, wondering why his mother would send him off with strangers, but also not surprised at her behavior because this is very on-brand for her.

Douglas Stuart’s main characters all have mommy issues but this mother here, Mo-maw is an especially bad mom, given how she neglects her children and then comes back to them saying that she faced a lot of problems to bring them up. I have an equal amount of distaste for James’s father, who keeps going out to work leaving him for weeks at a time.

My heart broke with every page turned although I don't love everything that happens in there. But then, these kinds of things do happen, fiction mirroring reality and all. The biggest plus, however, is that Douglas Stewart's writing has become better since his debut book. Or maybe it's just the me in this moment that actually thinks that Young Mungo was very evocative and compelling. My heart went out to Mungo and I could understand why he was doing what he was doing. I quickly became protective of him and that must say something.

If you like stories like this and/or if you don't mind reading stories like this, then this is one book that you should definitely check out. But keep in mind the trigger warnings that include rape, alcoholism, sexual abuse, and violence.

I was not expecting to love Young Mungo, but I did!

i’m not sure how to put words to what i just read. but it was somehow one of the best things i’ve ever had the pleasure of reading ? it was heartbreaking, and so memorable. i’ve seen in reviews that many people rate these quite low because it doesn’t live up to shuggie bain - which i have not read! so there’s that! the amount i can relate to a dysfunctional family that still somehow has so much love for one another despite anything (because it was clear how much love was there - even for their mother) is crazy and this book was a lot more extreme but just a perfect portrayal. i know so many hamish’s. i know so many mo-maw’s. the whole thing was just great. big up to netgalley and groves atlantic for allowing lil readers like myself to be sent arcs - i don’t think i would’ve read this book as quickly if i didn’t (if you don’t use netgalley yet - do it)

A story about young, queer love in early 1990s working-class Glasgow housing projects that will break your heart. Full of beautiful sentences about the most horrible topics, it’s Shakespearean in the level of tragedy, while carrying gothic, religious tones reminiscent of Flannery O’Connor.

A favorite of the year, with characters that will stick with me for a long time, but also one of the darkest, saddest books I’ve read.

Douglas Stewart’s Young Mungo is a brilliant, brutal tale of love amongst violence

Douglas Stewart’s Young Mungo follows a crucial year in life of Mungo Hamilton, a boy growing up in the difficult world Glasgow’s East End estates. Mungo’s upbringing is marked by anxiety and hardship. The adults around him struggle with the embittered stasis of poverty, whilst violence between local Catholic and Protestant gangs presents a constant threat. Despite this, Mungo is a sweet, sensitive boy, possessed with an innocence that inspires fondness in those around him. As he enters his teenage years, however, the fondness turns to suspicion; neighbours increasingly comment that the boy is ‘No’ right’. Mungo’s softness becomes a sign of his burgeoning homosexuality, which, within these deeply masculine and homophobic surroundings, is a dangerous thing to be accused of. His mother, in an ill-considered attempt to ‘make a man out of him’, sends him off on a fishing trip with two acquaintances that she had met in AA – the bawdy, half-witted St Christopher, and the far crueller and more sinister Gallowgate. This is how the novel opens; with Mungo, trapped between these coarse and lurid strangers, riding a bus out into the distant highlands. As the story flashes between the events of the fishing trip and the year leading up to that point, Douglas Stewart reveals a brutal, captivating, and tragic parable of the destruction of innocence.

A celebrated son of Glasgow, Stewart writes about his home city in the way only a native can. His rich character studies are full of nuance, and he evokes depths of feeling from the harshest personas. His mastery of psychology and sense of place is reminiscent of Dostoyevsky. The character of Mungo is even somewhat analogous to Prince Myshkin from The Idiot, with his lightness, gentle nature, and philosophical simplicity. Stewart’s bleak depictions of poverty are shot through with tenderness, moments of familial love that are quietly touching. These moments of respite, often seen though Mungo’s eyes, have a delicate purity, though they are never detached from their grim surroundings.

Though not explicitly dated, it’s inferred that the events of Young Mungo take place around the 80s, a not-too-distant past that will be fresh in the memory of many Glaswegians. It’s a dark period in the city’s history, as Thatcher’s economic policies thrust many into unemployment, drug-use and alcoholism. Growing up in this period himself, Stewart lucidly recounts the atmosphere of the time. Many of the themes present in Young Mungo will be familiar for readers of Stewart’s first novel, Shuggie Bain, which is set around the same era. Yet in my opinion, Young Mungo is more varied and expansive than its sister novel. Stewart delves deeper into the culture of sectarian violence between Protestant and Catholics, through the character of Mungo’s brother Hamish. A ruthless Protestant gang leader, Hamish’s belief in a brighter future was stamped out at an early age, leaving him with bitter contempt for anyone who still believes they can escape the estates. Stewart provides shocking descriptions of the warfare enacted by Hamish and his ilk, with scenes that seem sickeningly, bone-crunchingly audible. Yet even in his depictions of violence and ugliness, there is a sense of understanding about the sources of these blights and an empathy for the characters caught up in them. As in Shuggie Bain, Stewart’s characters feel like real people, their complex flaws a response to an environment that is hard and unforgiving.

A cornerstone of the novel is Mungo’s relationship with James, a young pigeon enthusiast whose doocot* becomes a sanctuary against the masculine brutality of the estates. Their childlike exploration of their feelings for each other contrasts strongly with the accusatory adults around them, who seem to pinpoint and condemn Mungo’s sexuality long before he himself becomes aware of it. Stewart’s delicate descriptions of the young boys’ budding romance are filled with a rare, naive tenderness. Mungo lovingly describes James’s kisses as like “hot buttered toast when you are starving”. Since James is Catholic, there is a Romeo and Juliet quality to their relationship, which adds to its illicit fragility. Also like Romeo and Juliet, there is a sense that their relationship is doomed from the start. Though two boys try and shelter each other from the rough world that surrounds them, it inevitably comes crashing in.

Above all else, Young Mungo is a brilliant study of the demands of a particular kind of masculinity, one that equates feeling with weakness and callousness with strength. In trying to help ‘make a man’ of Mungo, those around him, even those that love him, expose him to cruelty and violence. The events of the fishing trip are a horrifying extrapolation of where such a mentality can lead. Mungo’s innocence is ultimately sacrificed to this misguided ideal of manhood, which only serves to destroy everything it touches. Poignant, harsh and moving, Young Mungo is another masterful work from one of Scotland’s finest living writers.

I guess I’m still trying to find words to describe this beautiful powerful book. This author is just amazing. I feel so many things I never feel when reading his books.

OOF... if you're a fan of "A Little Life", you'll probably enjoy being emotionally voided by this novel. Torture porn isn't my thing though, no matter how beautifully written—not for me!

I am a fan of shorter reviews, but I will say this book quickly moved itself to the top of a couple of my reading lists for the year. I am glad I took a few hours of my life to dive into the authors world. For me this felt like another story in the Shuggie Bain universe. But as I loved the authors first book, I was very happy to get the chance to read this novel.

Absolutely beautiful. I loved this & feel so fortunate to have been able to read this one. Thank you for the opportunity!

Despite being more queer-focused and having interesting main characters, Young Mungo is not as engaging and consistently excellent as Stuart's debut (Shuggie Bain). The kidnapping and camping out by the lake section has its moments, though the villains stepped straight out of a Dickens novel.

4.75 stars, happily rounding it up to five. This book will often break your heart, but it was very much worth the read. This will stay with you, keep you up, even, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Brilliant, powerful, devastating, but also beautiful beyond belief.

Many thanks to #NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I dnf’d this just because of the awfulness of the story. The writing was good but the subject matter was too much at the time and probably always will be.

This is an absolutely brilliant novel that left me completely enthralled from start to finish. The story follows the journey of Mungo, a young boy growing up in Scotland in the 1980s, as he navigates the challenges of poverty, abuse, and his own sexual identity.

Douglas Stuart's writing is simply stunning. His descriptions of the Scottish landscape are so vivid and evocative that I felt like I was right there beside Mungo as he explored the rugged terrain. But what really sets this book apart is the depth and complexity of the characters. Mungo is a wonderfully complex protagonist, and I found myself rooting for him and empathizing with him throughout the book.

The themes explored in "Young Mungo" are difficult and sometimes painful, but they are also incredibly important. Stuart does an incredible job of shining a light on issues like poverty, abuse, and discrimination, while also celebrating the resilience and strength of the human spirit.

Overall, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is a beautifully written, deeply moving, and ultimately uplifting story that will stay with me for a long time to come.

As someone who absolutely loved and adored Shuggie Bain and how it broke my heart, I went into this book with a lot of expectations and the narrative and especially the pacing of the book fell a bit flat. Also, this book had a major Shuggie Bain hangover, like the author himself was not able to recover from the effect of the brilliant first book that he wrote. I wish I liked this book more.

Thank you so much for the publishers at Grove Press for providing me with an e-copy in exchange for an honest review. This was a book that I hoped to work real well for me since it came with a lot of hype with the author's debut winning a Booker Prize. Unfortunately, couldn't finish the book because of its lackluster pacing.