I read this expecting something different to the Novel Shuggie Bain, and yes the story was different but I just couldn't help feel like the book has been done before by the author and was a wasted opportunity. I can't say I really was gripped but it wasn't a bad novel, but possible too soon for me after reading the previous book by the same Author.

The book touch on a lot of issues, like Homosexuality, Violence and Drugs and does bring awareness to these topics among others, so I expect those that enjoyed Shuggie Bain may enjoy this Book too.

I was approved for both the ebook and the audiobook but had to DNF the last one as early as 2%. The narrator's accent was extremely thick and as much as I believe it can add to the depth of the story, it becomes a problem when it becomes such a struggle to understand what has been saying without focusing in every word or reading along. I thought it was an issue with the audiobook only but I can definitely see it reflected in the ebook also. Still not sure if the author's writing style is for me unfortunately.

Although it is best to go into the story without knowing much also please be aware it's such a raw, heartbreaking and complex story with so many layers, it could be hard to read. Please do check for TW (rape, violence, child abandonment, to name a few). Since it's narrated in different times lines that mix together at the end and jump between each other constantly, the plot turned confusing at times and made the pace way slower. Definitely not an easy read.


Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.
All opinions are my own.

There is a reason Stuart is a legendary writer. The crisp prose, the striking imagery, and incredible characters lead to a gloriously made story. I cannot recommend this novel enough.

Young Mungo is a brave, poignant, and utterly claustrophobic read. Right from the beginning chapters Young Mungo felt reminiscent to witnessing the onset of a car crash. Where time slows down and you see the danger but you are completely powerless to stop the foreseen tragedy.

Set during the early 1990's following Margaret Thatcher's political demise and the poverty stricken lives she left in her wake. We follow young Mungo, son to an alcoholic mother, brother to Hamish a hostile abusive gang leader and his genius sister who is in a manipulative relationship. Mungo is a fascinating character who is still naive to the world he lives in and still dotes on his neglectful mum. It was really hard not to love this sweet natured boy and felt my motherly instincts claw their way to surface to protect this boy who found himself with a life he did not deserve.

This modern twist of Romeo and Juliet is a story of the trial and tribulations of two young boys who have fallen in love during the unforgiving world of toxic masculinity, prejudice and homophobia which results in this devastating portrayal of a dangerous love and the monstrous act's that humans do to one another.

Douglas Stuart writing is vivid and bold and at times excruciating. This is not an easy read! I saw one reviewer (Andrea N) compare this to Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life and I completely agree. It is exceptionally Raw and just as hauntingly beautiful.

This has a bucket list of triggers and I would advise if you're thinking of reading this to check them out. They can usually be found in the authors notes.

I received an ARC from Net galley in exchange for an honest review.

#youngmungo #shuggiebain #netgalley #douglasstuart

Young Mungo is the story of Mungo Hamilton, a young teen growing up in the tenements of Glasgow. Mungo is a kind, naïve young man, living in the shadow of his older brother Hamish, the leader of the local street gang. His mother is often drunk and rarely around, so Mungo has been mostly raised by his sister Jodie.
The book jumps around between two timelines that eventually wind their way together, and at first I had a hard time getting used to the jumps in plot, but it only took a few chapters to get used to it.
This story broke my heart on nearly every page; Mungo is beaten down by every aspect of his life, but still has love and hope inside of him. One of my favorite books so for in 2022. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for and advanced copy of Young Mungo.

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Young Mungo - @douglas_stuart

I went into this book with very high expectations, and I presume most other people did as well. Shuggie Bain was an absolutely beautiful but heartbreaking book that deserved the Booker Prize. I can firmly confirm that my high expectations were met and probably exceeded.

Young Mungo follows the story of Mungo. It follows Mungo along two timelines, firstly a fishing trip with two of his Mum's 'friends' and the events and lie that led to Mungo being on that fishing trip. The way that Stuart weaves his characters into the story and into the East End of Glasgow makes them so real, I don't want Mungo to be real but the
Way he is described shows the real life that many faced and still continue to face.

I don't want to give too much away, it's definitely not an easy read at points. A couple of times I literally gasped in shock and horror. Although it follows a similar background to Shuggie Bain, you don't feel as if you are reading the same story twice which can sometimes emerge in books with similar backgrounds. All I can say is if you loved Shuggie Bain read this book and if you haven't read Shuggie Bain then also read this book (I reccomend reading the trigger warnings first).

I'm yet to decide which book I love more but both Mungo and Shuggie have a high up place in my heart.

Make sure you pick this up ASAP.

More of the same – only this time to excess. I really enjoyed Shuggie Bain, thought it incredibly well written, and a moving, authentic, convincing and compelling read. But this one feels as though Stuart (or his publishers) decided to cash in on the success of his debut novel but this time to pile on the misery so that no atrocity is left unreferenced. Not an ounce of nuance or subtlety. It’s all spelt out for us, with graphic and often gratuitous detail making misery tourists of us all. It’s an onslaught and not justified by the integrity that was evident in Shuggie Bain. However I am totally a voice in the wilderness here as evidenced by the many rapturous reviews. I lost interest early on and felt manipulated. Not for me, this one.

2/5

TW/CW: rape, substance abuse, domestic violence, pedophiles, homophobia, abortion, child neglect/abuse,

This book made me feel so many things. I’m still processing. There were many things I loved and hated. I was expecting more of a queer love story than we got. The story follows Mungo along two storylines: 1) his everyday life and him meeting James and 2) the camping trip from hell.

I loved getting the POV from a soft masc queer and how his familial life affects. I enjoyed hearing the stories of all those in his life. Douglas Stuart truly has a way with words and I felt like I was present in the story. I loved the idea of a queer love story prospering even in the face of the odds put against them. The book definitely evokes emotions.

I hated the beginning, it dragged so much. The plot didn’t get moving until the last third of the book. The interaction between James and Mungo was nonexistent. Things just pile on to Mungo with no resolve, even the ending left much to be desired. There’s no examination or depth to the characters even Mungo is two dimensional. There’s lots of things happening to the main character with random dialogues from others, but it’s hard to care when you feel so disconnected from Mungo. Whether this was done on purpose to show Mungo’s eventual detachment remains to be said. Or if Stuart left the examination up to the reader because during that time there was no choice but to find ways to survive, especially as queer person.

This was one of my most anticipated reads due to the hype surrounding Shuggie Bains but I’m hesitant to recommend to others given the lack of examination seen within the book. I will definitely read future work from Stuart as they have a way with words.

Douglas Stewart takes what was so great about Shuggie Bain - the prose, the attention to detail, the way he builds a character - and expounds upon that in this wonderful novel. Loved it!

4.5/5

Whoa… even with all the heavy shit going down here, I never thought the author was trying to sensationalize anything or make depression porn. This. Is. Really. Impressive. Prepare for an uneasy read, but one that is satisfying and will make you glad to have read it. At least that’s how I felt. Decide for yourself.

Thank you for this opportunity. My gist in Readerly is under invisiblemonster.

How can a book be so desolate, heartbreaking and bleak yet so beautiful, vivid and gripping?
Young Mungo lives on a Glasgow council estate surrounded by poverty, sectarianism, toxic masculinity and violence. He loves his alcoholic mum too much, fears his gang-leader brother and idolises his sister who just wants to escape this hopeless life.
Two timelines are skilfully woven together: Mungo’s life in Glasgow and a fishing trip his mother sends him on with 2 strangers she’s met at AA.
It’s all so beautifully written - the lyrical prose, the real characters, great dialogue. It deals with trauma, abuse, and brutality but soaring through it, is the hopeful love of Mungo and James, and the ties which bind us all together.
Gritty, angry and raw; it’s the saddest most beautiful thing. Read this book!
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All views are my own.

This is a moving story and much more heartbreaking than I usually read and it's why I have taken my time reading it. This was my first book by the author and I really liked the author’s writing style, although it was a difficult read.

Many thanks to the publisher Grove Atlantic, Grove Press, and NetGalley for providing me with an advance reader copy of this book.

Heartbreaking, but beautifully written. I have the feeling this will be a classic some day. I'm speechless and I'll probably give a more detailed review later but this was astonishing.
At first, ngl, I was kind of annoyed? nothing was happening and, because english isn't my first language, it was hard to read and keep up at some times, but then everyone was going through something and I got to appreciate everything the author did before all of this, I do think the "building" was neccessary and, if you can keep up then, you will get to read an incredibly well written and crafted book. Did this kind of break me? Yes, but was I ever not broken? Anyways.

this book was very good. like very good. it was a bit of a slog to get through at some points and i was a bit put off by the main character at the beginning but he grew on me and i began to really sympathize and relate to him, as a young person as well as a queer person.

This was a very heavy, very difficult read but it was also a beautifully written novel that will pull at your heartstring.

Thank you Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with an arc in exchange for a honest review.

First, thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Second, I feel as if I've had a leg up somehow. I've not yet read "Shuggie Bain," so I'm coming at Douglas Stuart fresh-faced and ready to hurt. And boy did I!

While there were some rough spots and places seemed too slow, Stuart's wonderful wielding of language and atmosphere really set this novel apart for me. The characters aren't all likable, in fact I'd say most of them aren't likeable at all, but they ARE real-- the good, the bad, and the evil. With that being said, reading Trigger Warnings for this book might be a good idea, the main one being SA.

It feels similarly to Hanya Yanagihara's"The People in the Trees" in that there are soft edges and a soft lighting casting over some pretty harsh circumstances until BAM! The edges and lighting are thrown into sharp relief. The darkest corners are then bared to you, and you find yourself gripping your phone (or book!) tightly. You dip in the past, slip into the present, back and forth until at last near the end of the book, time stabilizes even as events catapult Young Mungo's life into uncertainty. We're left with an arguably ambiguous ending, but I think it works for what this book is.

Overall, it's a devastatingly written gut-wrenching haunting of a book. Full stars.

5/5

Young Mungo is, for lack of a better word, tenderly written. You see the world through Mungo's young eyes as a boy growing up in a housing scheme in post-Thatcher Glasgow, with an alcoholic, mostly absent mother and two older siblings trying to figure out a way to beat the system that sees no bright future for children like them. Mungo ends up being left to his own devices for long periods of time, and that's how he meets James.⁠
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Even though they were meant to be sworn enemies (Mungo is a Protestant and James is a Catholic), the two boys fall in love and dream of escaping the big grey city together.⁠
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To put it simply, I loved this book; it was my first Douglas Stuart read, and it was exactly what I was expecting - the story of a sweet, kind soul going through hardships and heartbreak, told through lyrical prose. I found it quite similar to A Little Life (this one is less dark, but still VERY dark); if you loved one book, you will probably really enjoy the other.⁠
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Everything about this was so beautifully tender, every character perfectly drawn, and even though I felt like some parts got too slow-paced for my taste (the first two chapters were tough for me to get through), at the end I was left wanting to read more about Mungo.

I was so excited when I got approved for an arc of this book. "Young Mungo" was my first book by Douglas Stuart. I haven't read his acclaimed debut novel "Shuggie Bain". But I heard so much praises of that one that I was immediately intrigued to read the author's next book, which is "Young Mungo". Sadly, it didn't work for me. I had such a hard time with it. Trust me no one is more disappointed than me at my dnf of this book.

★ I have always claimed myself as a versatile reader. I like to read books from almost all genres and very few things can trigger me. Unfortunately this books proved to be extremely triggering for me. Rape, body horror, abuse on children - these three things are (probably) are the only contents that can make me uncomfortable and triggers my mental health. And 45% into this book, there is a on page rape scene. Then we witness it repeating again and again. Though the scenes weren't graphic, rape of a fifteen years old, made me too uncomfortable. Soon after, I stopped reading this book. On page rape is something I really can't deal with. It might be just me, but come on..."Young Mungo" is being marketed as "a deeply moving and highly suspenseful story of the dangerous first love of two young men". False marketing at most. There are better books out there which offer us the exact same thing but in way better quality. However, Please be cautious if you're planning to read it.

★ The writing style was too wordy and desprictive. Too hard to get into. The pacing is not smooth either. It was, in a word, frustrating and boring.

★ Though English is not my first language, I'm fluent in English. But this book made me start doubting that for a long moment. "Young Mungo" is set in a rural housing estate in Glassglow. All of the characters were Glassglow natives and they were speaking English in their native tongue. Their accent was too thick to read the book effortlessly. I had to struggle a lot to get into it and continue reading until the 47% mark. This book literally took a toll on me. Never had I ever before, went through such hardship to read a book. I would highly suggest you to stay away from this book if you aren't a native speaking.

★ The book jumps between two timelines. In the first, we meet Mungo’s family, Mungo and James fall in love, and we look at the families and individuals who live around Mungo. The second is a camping trip from hell. The constant back and forth between the timelines was exhausting. The alterations were not smoothly done. Though Mungo is our main protagonist, there are also some other characters who narrate the story from time to time. The shifting of these povs were abrupt and too sudden. It was a real pain to keep track that's going on. And all of these was absolutely for nothing. It felt as though the author was complicating there unnecessarily. Lots of time, I had to go back and read some paragraphs several times to make sense of them. Yet mostly, I received nothing out of them. So, why make it difficult when it could have been as easy and calming as the gentle breeze of Spring?

How do you follow up a debut novel like Shuggie Bain? Shuggie Bain was one of my favorite books of 2020, and Douglas Stuart's sophomore novel, Young Mungo (out today), pulls on very similar themes to tell a new story.

Mungo is growing up in a housing estate in Glasgow with an often absent, a brother that leads a gang, and a sister that feels tasked with raising Mungo since no one else will. Mungo meets his first love, a forbidden love, and comes of age amidst abandonment, hate, and a very specific definition of masculinity. This story is told in two timelines. The first is his aforementioned life before a fishing trip his mom sends him on with two drunks. The second, during this fishing trip, and let me tell you, this fishing trip is one of the hardest events I've read in literature. I read this alongside a friend and we both needed to take breaks.

This book has gorgeous writing, a compelling plot, and will haunt me for a long time. There is one specific scene in Shuggie Bain that I will truly never forget because it was one of the saddest things I've ever read paired with some of the best writing. Young Mungo is similar in that regard. Also like Shuggie, this book takes a little while to sink into. I had to keep reminding myself that Mungo is not just an older version of Shuggie, but I would love to hear from Stuart how he sees his two main characters in conversation with one another.

A beautiful and heartbreaking novel about identity and expectation. Filled with spectacular and unique prose, this story was an absolute stunner. The split narrative held my attention, although I was less interested in the second storyline. The story still moves quickly and the writing and characters make everything feel so real. I absolutely loved it.