Douglas Stuart's first novel, Shuggie Bain, won the Booker Prize last year for its stunning portrayal of a young boy growing up in working-class Scotland. Young Mungo, which was released in early April, is a type of cousin to Shuggie Bain, following a young boy in the Protestant tenements of Glasgow in a post-Thatcher era of unemployment and strife. Mungo is fifteen-years-old with an innocence that sharply contrasts with his gang-leader brother, Hamish and his alcoholic mother, Maureen. Mostly raised by his older sister Jodie, Mungo spends his days at school with the assumption that his future will begin at age sixteen when he can drop out and become a laborer. He is not interested in girls, and as a result, his family sees and treats him as younger than he really is. One day, while wandering around his neighborhood, Mungo comes across a pigeon dovecote maintained by James, a Catholic boy a year older than him who lives down the street. Mungo and James become friends and then quickly develop a romantic relationship, which they must keep secret from everyone around them.

Interspersed throughout the book are chapters that jump forward in time to a weekend fishing trip at a loch in western Scotland involving Mungo and two strange men who readers meet in the opening scene of the novel. Why sweet Mungo is with these men and what they intend to do to him are questions that haunt the entire book and are dramatically revealed as the weekend moves forward. This is a book that will break your heart. It is filled with striking details about a common life of poverty without hope for the future as well as a breathtaking story of a young boy attempting to discover who he is within a society that does not give him options.

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart. Thanks to Grove Atlantic and Net Galley for letting me read a digital ARC of this book.
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Young Mungo is a queer Glaswegian retelling of Romeo & Juliet. I'm not sure why I was surprised that this book managed to be even more devastating than Stuart's debut, Shuggie Bain - but I was.
Stuart's writing, as in Shuggie Bain, is precise, vivid, and atmospheric. As a character, Mungo is essentially a slightly older version of Shuggie. This book, however, is even more bleak and grim than Shuggie Bain. It took me a while to read, because at times the violence in the book was so visceral I had to put it down.
I also didn't love the characters in this book quite as much as in Stuart's first novel, but this one is certainly still worth reading if you were a fan. If you haven't read Shuggie Bain, then read that one first.
I'll be looking forward to reading whatever Stuart writes next even though it is sure to break my little heart.
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#douglasstuart #netgalley #youngmungo #groveatlantic #bookpost #recommendedread #shuggiebain

I'm conflicted about <b> Young Mungo</b> the second novel by 2020 Booker Prize winning author Douglas Stuart.     Whilst I liked our protagonist Mungo Hamilton and his sister Jodie,  there were other characters I actively disliked - his brother Hamish (aka Ha-Ha) in particular.  The content made it a difficult book to read and I regularly found myself taking little breaks, only to be drawn back to the story, suckered in by the captivating writing and the Glaswegian dialect he seems to do so well.  

Young Mungo was set in Glasgow in the 1990's, a place of very few opportunities.   Where expectations were set low and even then were rarely met.     Where young people were the product of their environment.   Boys in particular learnt violence is the answer to everything - a beat up or get beaten up mentality.   Any insecurity would be exploited.  Displaying any kindness or caring would make you seem less of a man.    Seemingly the worst insults thrown were those accusing a man of being <i>a sissy, a poofter</i>.   Tensions were high for Mungo (and readers alike) as he began coming to terms with the fact he was not only falling in love with a boy but a Catholic boy to boot.   There were tender scenes and moments of hope but underlying these moments was a sense that the relationship would be doomed.

This was a dark book.   Though I might wish it was the fanciful imaginings of a creative man, I daresay it was reality based, in much the same way as the authors prize winning novel Shuggie Bain had been, and this really saddened me.    In my review I described Shuggie Bain as gut wrenching and depressing and those words seem equally fitting to Young Mungo.    The two books had similar themes and in many ways his two protagonists Shuggie and Mungo were alike.  Both boys were tender hearted teens with alcoholic mothers.   This novel however placed less emphasis on the mother son/relationship and the alcoholism and focussed more on societal expectations on young boys to be toughened up, to be men. Not only that but it shone a spotlight on sectarianism in Glasgow, the Christian conflict between Catholics and Protestants.    To me it all seemed completely futile, the violence made me sick to my stomach and the pointlessness was made evident in this dialigue where Mungo asks his gang leader brother   <i>“I don’t understand, Hamish. Why? Why do we have to fight them?” to which he replied "It’s about honour, mibbe? Territory? Reputation ?....Honestly, ah don’t really know. But it’s fuckin’ good fun.” </i>  

I must give credit to the author for the complex characters he created.  Even with the worst of his characters - those whose behaviours I considered despicable and could in no way justify or excuse - the authors words helped me realise how the  environmental and societal factors had contributed.   How insecurities and circumstances had compounded matters for the worst.   And on the flip side, how good characters could end up behaving badly in an attempt at self preservation.

With these and other thoughts settling in my mind and through reflecting on the book for more than a week after finishing it I find myself less conflicted.     Did I enjoy Young Mungo?   Not in the typical sense of reading for entertainment.   Did I appreciate the way the author made his readers spend time in the shoes of a young, queer boy trying in vain to fit into his Glasgow community? Absolutely.   Did I rate the writing?   Certainly I did.   

On balance I would definitely encourage others to give this book a try despite the dark and difficult content.  

Thanks to the author, to Grove Press the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity of reading this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A story of love, betrayal and family, the story is written so beautifully and so vividly described that you feel you are there feeling what he feels seeing what he does. The authenticity of the characters is great. Such a sad story that will break your heart. Very dark and gloomy but a great read

I hesitated with this read at first because I saw so many reviews saying it was a 'continuation; of Shuggie Bain but I would disagree. Although there were many similar themes, this story was raw in its own right and arguably harder to digest in some ways. Stuart does an excellent job of painting the blue collar, hardened East End of Glasgow and gave me a totally different picture than Shuggie Bain. Character development is so interesting and as difficult as Mungo's story is to read, it is so well written. Talent, talent, talent.

I know this was a really excellent book, but I didn't enjoy reading it. It was gorgeously written and so hard to get through. I found myself f inot wanting to know what was going to happen next because it was always so painful, kind of like "A Little Life." On paper, the concept is extremely similar to Shuggie Bain (an impoverished Scottish family, a mess of a mom, an ~unusual~ son, a daughter who takes care of everything) which I also put off reading because I knew it would be upsetting, as great works often are. But I also recognize that this is an artistic masterpiece. Douglas Stuart is such a force who has somehow only written two books and still achieved modern classic status in my mind. A note for potential readers, the dialogue is written in Scottish dialect and it was a bit hard to read at first as a silly American, but it does get easier. At some points, the narration felt a bit forced — just saying Mungo's thoughts out loud — but it always resulted in beautiful sentences. I'm glad I read it.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Having loved Shuggie Bain, I wasn’t sure what to expect with Young Mungo. To my amazement, Douglas Stuart has crafted a story that’s right up there with Shuggie. As gritty as Shuggie and my heart was broken again but a fantastic piece of writing. Five stars for sure.

Stuart has written a second pull-your-heart-out-and-stomp-all-over-it book, one that did not disappoint for a minute, even considering how much I loved Shuggie Bain. Stuart manages to write about very ugly things so beautifully.

These two books are similar in a lot of ways, so if I can criticize anything it’s that Stuart isn’t breaking new ground here – Young Mungo is also about a sensitive young boy living in Thatcher-era Scotland, dealing with poverty, violence, and an alcoholic mother. He’s a boy who has to care for his mother much more than she cares for him.

And yet, it didn’t feel like the same story. While Shuggie Bain is told over many years, this story unfolds in a short period of time and revolves much more around secondary characters other than Mungo’s mother. Mungo idolizes his older sister Jodie and fears his abusive brother Hamish. He also slowly develops a friendship, and then a relationship, with James, a boy who lives across the street. They live in a world where being gay will get you jailed or killed (at best, your family would never speak to you again).

Mungo is about fifteen, and when the book begins, his mother is sending him off on a fishing/camping trip with two unknown men, to “make a man out of him”. It’s not clear what has transpired, only that Mungo is covered in bruises. The book alternates between the present time and the recent events that led up to it.

As with Shuggie Bain, Young Mungo is heartbreaking. Mungo has the immaturity you’d expect of a fifteen year old boy (he’s not a good student and is told he has no common sense), but he also takes on a lot of responsibility for his mother. I imagine that’s common for children of alcoholics. Too many times, Mungo and his sister are left alone, or put her to bed, or worse, they are witness to the things she does with men for something to drink. Mungo’s sister Jodie is forced to become Mungo’s caretaker when she’s only about a year older than he is.

But while this book is very dark, Mungo also finds joy in his love for James. Even though it seems impossible that their love can survive, as a reader I still had hope for them. And Mungo as a character is so kind and caring, but also helpless – most of the time. Actually, one of the saddest things about this book (and there are several) was how the systemic abuse by his brother has hardened Mungo. He has a violence buried under the surface that’s completely at odds with his quiet, conflict-avoiding exterior.

I listened to Shuggie Bain on audiobook, but I read this one – and I’m not sure which was the better experience. I appreciate listening to books when there’s strong dialect, as with these books, but I also find I can understand the terminology much better if I see it and can look it up as I read (for example, a cagoule is a light jacket). On the other hand, it’s a lot easier to understand dialect with a good audio narrator because you hear the emotion behind the words.

I’d rather not tell you more about the book, but I can’t recommend it enough.

Note: I received a complimentary review copy from NetGalley and publisher Grove Press. This book was published April 5, 2022.

"Young Mungo" is one dark book. Stuart's writing is compelling, and I kept reading hoping that there'd be some goodness (I don't want to provide spoilers, but Mungo's sister Jodie had a bit of good news) in Mungo's world of grief. But, our 15 year old Mungo never gets a break. His mother drowns herself in alcohol and wrapped around lousy men, his older brother Hamish is a brute who loves beating up Catholics and engaging in endless violence and crime, where as his sister Jodie somehow manages to excel in school, keeps a part-time job, mothers Mungo, and ends up in a dismal relationship with a teacher.

Mungo meets James, a slightly older gay boy who raises pigeons, and the two boys seem as gentle as the pigeons, and unfortunately, as much as they long to leave their homes, like the pigeons they never get too far and always return.

When Hamish discovers that Mungo and Catholic James are lovers, he does what Hamish does, while his other sends Mango on a fishing trip with a couple of AA pals who are recently released from prison for sexually abusing boys, and believes a weekend with them will make Mungo a man.

Mungo suffers from nervous tics and comes across as educationally slow, but it's hard to not keep reading through this brutal novel, hoping that there will be some peace for Mungo, some peace for Janes, while they are surrounded by homophobic people who believe they deserve to die of AIDS and could end up in jail for loving each other, while these other people seem free of jail while they inflict such brutality on others.

i am able to appreciate depressing tales (a little life is an all time favourite of mine) but this is misery-porn and the writing isn't particularly gripping either.

Young Mungo sees Douglas Stuart exploring similar themes to that of his first novel, 2020 Booker Prize winner Shuggie Bain. Both books follow young male protagonists doing their best to survive under challenging circumstances amongst troubled families in working-class Glaswegian communities hard hit by the effects of Margaret Thatcher’s policies.

Whilst politics and the effects of Thatcherism were more explicitly explored in Shuggie Bain, Young Mungo tells a more intimate coming-of-age story; that of Mungo Hamilton, brother of the intellectually promising Jodie, and troubled bully, Hamish Hamilton, and son of Mo-Maw, who struggles with alcohol and self-esteem affect her ability to be the mother her son needs.

Whilst Stuart’s two novels tell stories that are very much set in the same world - a world that he paints as vividly as he does grittily - Young Mungo is, at its heart, a love story, remembered throughout a harrowing and transformative fishing trip in northern Scotland, on which teenage Mungo is sent with two acquaintances of his mother to make a man of him; after all, “there was nothing more shameful than being a poofter; powerless, soft as a woman.”

A lack of wider acceptance of homosexuality is a prevalent theme in Young Mungo. We join Mungo on his journey of discovery as he meets the flaxen-haired pigeon-keeper, James. Like many boys like him at the time, Mungo feels that there is something inherently wrong with him, but he feels a magnetic draw to James despite his hesitation. We meet Poor-Wee-Chickie, “a bachelor” ridiculed and shunned by the local community, yet he is one of the few characters to show selfless kindness to Mungo.

Stuart perfectly captures an experience unique to gay people growing up in a time lacking in understanding: the feeling of finding love that is forbidden and must be hidden from even those closest to us for fear of being found out as something wrong, something dirty, something we are let to believe we shouldn’t be. Mungo goes through life making “himself as small as possible” because the smaller he is, the less likely he is to draw attention to himself, another familiar experience for many gay teenagers. One would hope that these challenges are less prevalent nowadays for gay youth, but no doubt they still exist in many places. It is expected that a novel like Young Mungo might provide solace to anyone feeling such fear and alienation in today’s slightly more accepting world.

Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo are intrinsically linked, both as hopeful as they are bleak yet packed with humour; Stuart seems to be chronologically detailing different phases of the gay experience through these emotionally resonant and compelling works; perhaps his next novel will tell the story of a less challenging period, one less filled with fear, confusion, and pain. It would be wonderful to know that protagonists such as Shuggie and Mungo can grow up to find the love, happiness and care they deserve.

Douglas Stuart's second novel is just as gut-wrenching as his first as it expertly illustrates the pains of growing up, confused about sexuality in a broken household and a dangerously homophobic society. Starting from Mungo, who struggles to keep his head above troubled waters in a toxic atmosphere, while trying to fit in, Stuart's characters are as memorable as they're intransigent, cast in a near-perfect mold of humanity and its imperfections. Stuart's Booker winning prose lifts up the narrative but this is not a book for the faint-hearted for the themes discussed could be triggering for people [spoiler alert] who experienced sexual abuse in their childhood, nevertheless Young Mungo is a book that must be read and celebrated.

Received an ARC with thanks from Grove Atlantic and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A thank you to Netgalley for sharing the ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Although I was sort of expecting it after having tried to read Shuggie Bain, I just could not bring myself to finish this. Douglas Stewart is a phenomenal character, setting, and situational writer, but if you're the emotional sort, perhaps a little too much so. Lyrical and haunting, this book, though beautiful, it's also the kind that sink down in the depths of despair. I can appreciate it, but for my own mental health, probably ought best steer clear of.

I'd imagine trying to follow up a Booker Prize winning debut novel would be a daunting task, but Douglas Stuart produced another incredible, beautifully heart-wrenching story in Young Mungo. Awesome read and can’t wait for his next book. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the complimentary copy.

This was often very beautifully written, but just as often written about very ugly things. It's one of those reading experiences that you can't really say you enjoyed, because of the brutal nature of so much of the story, but then you get passages like this one:

A fissure Mungo hadn’t known about cracked open in his chest; beneath it was a hollow feeling that had never bothered him before. It was an agony not to raise his own hand and touch the hairs James’s fingers had licked. It burned. He wanted nothing more than to feel the warmth left by his touch.

And I want to take those passages and keep them inside of me always.

This book was a mess of emotions but the one it left me with is a melancholic sadness, I think. This is a book that's not afraid of showing its characters' many, many flaws, and it's a stronger book because of that - and they're a big part of why this is emotionally messy.

Really lovely, but really horrifying with a sort of hopelessness and heartbreak to it.

This is an easy 5 star read even though I wanted to bawl my eyes out and give Mungo a giant hug during most of it. The author writes such realistic, damaged characters. I was completely immersed in this book as I was reading.

Minho’s Glasgow was a very different place than the one I visited as a tourist 10 years ago. I had no idea the Catholic vs Protestant fighting was something that happened in Scotland.

This book was ultimately about forbidden love and trying to break societal constraints. What makes a man a “man”? This covered some tough subjects but Douglas Stuart did it with grit and grace.

despite being scottish and even doing a scottish literature course at uni, books set in scotland still feel like a novelty to me. it's almost weird being able to understand that under layer to the text, esp being from a very sectarian town myself. it's a bleak book! but it's a very very good one, at times funny and heartwarming and at others devastating

REAL!!
this book has characters who are real. The portrayal of each and every character that was introduced in the book no matter the duration, was given justice. Nothing felt as though it was unnecessary. There was humor and fun and that keeps a belief that maybe things would be okay.
Does it?
Well, that's for you to read and find out.
Totally loved it.

Young Mungo, Douglas Stuart's follow-up to Shuggie Bain, is packed with a lot of the same heart-wrenching themes as Shuggie Bain - alcoholic mother, abuse, struggles with sexual identity and stigma, a bleak lower-class upbringing with limited options. I know many people who felt Shuggie was too depressing, and for those people, I don't think Young Mungo will be for you. However, I fell in love with both main characters for their unbreakable spirits and capacity for keeping an open heart despite the unending heartaches. Not an easy read, but beautifully written and a story that sucked me in and kept me hooked to the end.

I loved Shuggie Bain so I was pumped to receive an advanced copy of Stuart's sophomore novel, Young Mungo. And I'm here to tell you that this one delivered. It took everything I loved about Shuggie Bain and made it darker, grittier, and sadder.

Young Mungo starts off much like Shuggie Bain. We have our young male character, coping with his mother's alcoholism and the reality of living in a tenement outside of Glasgow. As I first started this book, I was sort of torn between loving that Young Mungo allowed us to return to the similar scenes we got in Shuggie Bain and also feeling frustrated that the two books were so similar.

But then, without spoiling, Young Mungo transforms into something vastly different and more mature than Shuggie. We alternate between a present-day timeline, in which Mungo has been sent on a camping trip with two male strangers, and the past leading up to the trip. Stuart uses these two timelines to explore what it means to be a young, gay man in working-class Glasgow. As the story ramps up, Young Mungo becomes part Romeo and Juliet retelling, part thriller, and part heartbreaking coming-of-age tale. Combining all of these tropes into a single book is difficult, but I felt that Stuart expertly wove them together.

His writing style, which I came to love in Shuggie Bain, is even more matured here. Some of my favorite parts of the book were where the plot slowed down and we were just with Mungo and his thoughts, through Stuart's words.

This was one of my most anticipated books this year and I am glad that it did not disappoint!