This is a book that will stay with me for a long time. It feels wrong to say I enjoyed it, when much of it is so dark. Yet I really wanted to see how this story unfolded and read it in big greedy gulps. I couldn’t put it down.
We follow the story of Mungo Hamilton, a young Protestant boy with a troubled home life, as he falls in love with a catholic boy in working class 1990’s Glasgow. The world they live in is brutal and uncompromising. They should be enemies and yet in each other they find a place to be who they really are. The story follows two timelines that eventually converge, each as heart wrenching as the other. I was rooting for Mungo every step of the way.
There are some very dark themes running through this story, it isn’t for the faint hearted. Douglas Stuart does not shy away from depicting the grim reality, poverty and sheer violence of that environment. But somehow through it all we manage to see the slivers of hope, humanity and tenderness that are there beneath the surface. That’s what kept me invested in the story and the characters. Even those that were thoroughly unlikable were given small flashes of who they could have been, if their circumstances had been different. The writing is amazing. I would reread some parts just to marvel at how beautifully the words had been put together. I definitely recommend Young Mungo, it will have you by the throat and then by the heart.

Heart-breaking and in parts deeply disturbing, the life of Young Mungo Hamilton will leave you caring for him deeply and hoping with all that you have, that things will work out for him. Set in Glasgow tenement blocks, Mungo 's life is full of emotional hardship, violence and fear. The adults in his life take advantage of his innocence and loving nature with terrible, lufe-changing consequences. Ultimately we see the power of family love. This book will haunt me and leave me wondering what happened to Mungo for a very long time. 5 stars and lots of tears.

Having loved Douglas Stuart's first book, Shuggie Bain, I was thrilled to get the chance to read Young Mungo in advance. It was going to be a hard act to follow but I have not been disappointed.

In some ways Young Mungo is similar to Shuggie Bain - set in Glasgow, an alcoholic mother, an absent father and a young boy struggling to find his way through his confused feelings. But this book really takes you into Mungo's world - it's all about him and rightly so. He's a fascinating character who I warmed to pretty quickly and I wanted to help him navigate through life and protect him from his vicious brother and his often absent mother. Only his sister seemed to care within his family but even then, she had her own problems to handle and had to turn to Mungo for a shoulder to cry on. Their moments in the airing cupboard sometimes left me with a lump in my throat. And Mungo's relationship with James - hidden, misunderstood and against the rules. It was magical seeing their feelings develop.

The book has dark moments which will strike a chord with those who live in and around Glasgow and are familiar with the 'old firm' enemies. The fights were eerily described and I felt like I was a bystander watching it unfold, rather than reading about it. The fishing trip which is a constant storyline throughout the book is uncomfortable reading at times, but it reflected the situation so well. So many young boys went through Mungo's experience and it is important to share these stories and hold those responsible to account..

I loved this book from start to finish - the lightness and darkness, the characters and language, the Glasgow and West of Scotland reference points. It was genius writing and a perfect follow up to Shuggie's (and Agnes') story. You won't be disappointed.

I thoroughly enjoyed Shuggie Bain, and couldn't wait to get stuck into Young Mungo. At first I thought it was a bit of the same (alcoholic mother, LGBT shame) but actually the crux of the book in Mungo and James' relationship and the quite action packed trip to the lake; make it a much more interesting book. The ending broke my heart!

Oh boy this book is harrowing !! Paedophiles, alcoholism, homophobia, hate crime, abortion, domestic violence, rape. You name it, it's there. Not a light read at all. Yet it is so well written. Douglas Stuart keeps you reading.

The titular main character of this second novel by Douglas Stuart is 15 year old Mungo Hamilton. There are similarities between Mungo and Shuggie Bain of Stuart's earlier, Booker prize-winning novel. Mungo lives in Glasgow with his elder sister Jodie. His mother is a rarely present alcoholic of whom Mungo is fiercely protective. He also has an older, bullying, brother Hamish, currently living with his young girlfriend and their new baby in her mother's house. So the set-up is clearly a dysfunctional family, each member of which has significant problems.
Then friendless Mungo meets motherless James. The two boys bond over James' pigeon-keeping hobby and soon realise that they both need to escape if they are going to be able to be true to themselves. They need to escape the violent sectarianism rife in their city and they need to escape the stifling prejudice of their families and neighbours. The reader knows their route to escape is not going to be easy and they are forced into actions they could never have imagined themselves taking.
Douglas Stuart's writing is lyrical and gripping. This is a hard book to read because of the violence and cruelty but it is also a hard book to put down. The narrative is split into events in Glasgow around January and events in May of the same year in the countryside north of Glasgow. Mungo changes irretrievably over these few months and at times I did not know if I could continue reading. On reflection I think it was the split-time narrative that helped me through the violence. All the main characters are very well written and there are also memorable lesser characters who have a positive impact on Mungo's story such as two of his neighbours, Chick Calhoun and Mrs Campbell, and a Land Rover driver who gives him a lift on the road back to Glasgow. Descriptions of Glasgow and the surrounding countryside give a realistic sense of place.
My thanks to the publisher for a complimentary ARC f this title in return for an honest review.

ARC REVIEW
Young Mungo is about a young Protestant boy living in Glasgow, and his experiences with working class life, masculinity, family, queer love, and much, much more. (Please check the content warnings, there are a lot of really heavy topics in this book !!)

Firstly, the UK and US covers for this book are absolutely beautiful. I'm a UK reader, and the UK cover is my favourite, but both give a glimpse into what the story contains.

This book was described as 'a gay Romeo and Juliet set in the brutal world of Glasgow's housing estates', but I don't think that this fully encompasses what the book is about, as the love story is part of a much bigger picture.

The best thing about this book is the writing. I was completely blown away by how lyrical and sweet the writing was. Douglas Stuart describes some of the most heart-wrenching things in a way that is so beautiful, but also so vivid, and so real.

The characters are so impeccably written, and I felt such strong feelings about every single one of them, especially Mungo and Jodie. The characters that you don't like are given depth, like Hamish, who is completely unlikeable, but in moments of vulnerability, you are made to understand why he acts the way he does. The way that society fails the characters in this book is referenced often.

The love story between Mungo and James is so beautiful and I think the saddest thing about this book is how the most tender and pure love is looked down on more than the violent, and volatile 'love' that is accepted by many characters. Mungo is told that it's wrong to love another boy, but it's the healthiest love he's ever received.

I haven't read Shuggie Bain yet, but I will be buying it immediately, because I absolutely adored this book. I finished it a few hours ago and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. It absolutely tore me apart, and my heart is completely empty, but there are so many emotions swimming around in my chest.

Again, it is a really heavy read, so I would advise people to take that into account before reading it.

I was excited to read Young Mungo and had high expectations for it which were most definitely realised. This book is not afraid to challenge a myriad of societal issues such as alcoholism, poverty, toxic masculinity, homophobia, religious sectarianism, child abuse etc. Although bleak and desolate throughout, the prose is engaging and captivating. It is beautifully written and I found the passages describing the munros and the loch charming and visual. I think some readers might struggle with the starkness of the plot and might find parts of it triggering. However, this is the reality that we live in unfortunately and Douglas Stuart does an amazing job at depicting the cruelty and sadism that exists. Overall, it was a thoroughly engrossing book that I would recommend to all to read.

Having never gotten round to reading Shuggie Bain I was keen to read the new novel. The two novels do sound quite similar. I loved the dialogue (having lived in Glasgow) and it deals with hugely important and difficult themes in a very raw, remarkable and honest way. I found the plot compelling and the characters so superbly drawn but the writing lacked something for me. It was overlong and timelines seemed a bit messed up (sometimes they were marked but sometimes not indicated) and at times it seems to reveal in its own misery just a bit too much.

A story of two boys who never got the chance to love each other. Mungo is a 15 year old boy from Glasgow and this book follows two aspects of his life: his relationships with his family and a new-found friendship with James. The story is set in two separate timelines, which we flick between as we learn about Mungo's past and present, before they eventually merge to one. The book tackles some difficult topics so people should definitely check trigger warnings before reading. Nonetheless Stuart creates beautiful imagery throughout the story, whilst still addressing these important topics. Whilst following the developing love story between Mungo and James, we also learn about Mungo's relationships with each family member, creating a clear picture of his life. Mungo faces hardships for a variety of reasons such as homophobia, religious tensions and being surrounded by violence. As the book is written phonetically in order to portray the Scottish accents, it becomes incredibly immersive and fun to read. Ultimately the book follows Mungo getting repeatedly broken down, until he loses any hope he had remaining, but ends with a cliffhanger that leaves multiple possibilities open, rekindling the hope you (and Mungo) lost throughout the chapters. Young Mungo is heartbreakingly beautiful and I will be recommending it to everyone I know.

I was hesitant to ask to review this book as I was concerned that it would not be as good as Shuggie Bain which I loved and have reread many times. I was wrong. Young Mungo is a wonderful second novel. It left me wanting a sequel. What happened next?

Young Mungo is Douglas Stuart’s second book. It’s based on a young teenager Mungo, growing up in Glasgow tenements, being raised by an alcoholic mother. He is coming to terms with his own sexuality, trying to navigate his way as a gay boy in a homophobic world where homosexuality is still punishable by imprisonment or worse if tried by local juries. Stuart once again digs deep into the human elements, those suffering & lost, victims of their circumstance. One couldn’t help but feel sorry for Mungo with his insecurities and sense of abandonment, and for all those living in the shadows of those tenement housing schemes. Mungo Hamilton isn’t someone you’re likely to forget in a hurry. The language used reflects the Glaswegian English and the style of story telling jumps between past and present, letting us know how Mungo found himself to be where he is for half the novel, and why he ended up there. It’s a sad story but excellently written once again.

How do you follow up a debut, Booker Prize winning novel? How do you answer people who think that you will surely never be able to reach those heights again and that everything else will only be a pale shadow in comparison to Shuggie Bain?

Young Mungo, that's how you follow it up!

There are obvious similarities with Shuggie Bain, the growing pains, both metaphorical and literal, from living in the brutal streets of Glasgow. As someone who lived in the city for a number of years, I always enjoy reading books where you know first hand the lay of the land.

In Young Mungo, we have the story of a young boy growing up in Glasgow, raised by his sister rather than his mother who is clearly trying to live her own life and cling on to her last bit of youth.

Added to this, Mungo is living in the shadow of Hamish, his older brother who, whilst short in stature, is renowned for his reputation of anger and violence perpetuated against Catholics.

When Mungo, a Protestant, meets James, a Catholic, it seems like this will never work. Not only must they hide their true feelings for each other, the fact that they are from 'rival' religions means this relationship is doomed from the start.....or is it?

Again, what Douglas Stuart does here is tell a beautiful, loving, harsh, brutal, violent and wonderful story that will, in equal measures make you smile and cry.

A wonderful follow up to Shuggie Bain and I would be very surprised not to see this on the Booker long list when the time comes.

Thanks to Pan Macmillan, Picador and Netgalley for the honour of being able to read this wonderful book as an ARC.

I was a bit worried to begin with that Young Mungo may be a retread of Shuggie Bain - checklist of alcoholic mother, Glasgow poverty, queer kid finding his way in the world etc etc. Fortunately my worries were misplaced, Stuart has created a very different story here from these basic building blocks. Told on two timelines - before and after an unnamed but clearly traumatic event - Young Mungo is a violent novel, addressing abuse, (benign) neglect, and family ties. Above all this, and the heart of the novel, is the gay love story across sectarian lines - friendship would be taboo, never mind the developing feelings on (well hidden) display here. It’s a very sweet love story, laced with a bitter edge.

Love the cover too!

After thoroughly enjoying Shuggie Bain, I was thrilled to be approved to read Young Mungo. It did not disappoint.

Young Mungo is a heartbreaking tale of young love, finding yourself and growing up in Glasgow. I empathised with Mungo from the very beginning and it broke my heart reading his story. I couldn't put this book down and was desperate to keep reading and find out if there was a happy ending down the line for young Mungo.

Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy. I will definitely be recommending this.

When I read Shuggie Bain I was so swept up in the characters and moved by the story. This then is 'the difficult second novel' and I have to say Douglas Stuart has smashed it. There's all the feels and drama of Shuggie mixed with true love and hope. A must read.
Thanks to Netgalley, Picador and Douglas Stuart for the ARC.

Mungo Hamilton is fifteen years old. When we first meet him he is off for the weekend with two men who he doesn't know. Men who his mother met at an AA meeting. Men who are not really known to his mother. Alarm bells ring. What sort of mother would send her son away with two strangers 'to make a man of him'? He's clearly done something but what?

Well the answer to the first question is that Mo-Maw is not much of a mother at all. Absent most of the time, resentful of her children and in thrall to drink and the possibility of a man. Mungo is the youngest of her children. His sister Jodie does her best to support Mungo all the while loathing her mother while brother Hamish is not a good role model, obsessed as he is with violence especially against catholics. The picture Stuart paints of Mungo's life is reality for many children in areas of deprivation and oh so bleak. His life isn't all misery though and this answers the second question, what has he done to be sent away? He's a 'bender'. Mungo has fallen in love with Jamie, a catholic who is desperate to leave the area and live his life as he wants and not as his widowed father deems appropriate. The story of their romance is touching.

There is much to love in this book. You will empathise with Mungo, admire his sister Jodie who is so determined to better herself and win a place at Glasgow University. You will be infuriated by the toxic masculinity which is so prevalent and personifies itself in Hamish. And as for Mo-Maw...

I hesitated between 4 and 5 stars for this book. Young Mungo himself deserves 5 stars for being so resilient in the face of adversity. The writing deserves 5 stars. Yet something in me wavers. Why? Is it the almost unrelenting bleakness? Is it the somewhat unrealistic ending? Is it the way I can't get a grip on when the story happens? At times it feels like the sixties, at other times the eighties but I read somewhere it was the nineties. It doesn't feel like the nineties. In the end for these reasons I'm opting for 4.5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐨 is a triumph. Definitely one of the best books I've ever read. From now on, if I hear of something being described as "beautifully tragic" I will think of this book and Mungo's story, as I've never read anything that more fully encapsulates this description. ⁣⁣💔
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This is a tale of love, particularly of the tenacity and struggle of the innocent love of two young boys in a time, place and society that seeks to destroy it. The love young Mungo finds with James is a rare source of happiness in his life which is vastly void of content, where his alcoholic mother sends him on a fishing trip with two murky, older strange men from her AA group, in attempt to reconnect Mungo with his 'masculinity', following the uncovering of his and James's relationship. Mungo's sweet nature struggles through the horrors of this bank holiday getaway, which is scattered amid the backdrop of sectarianism, the horrific violence of gangs that it ignites, and the homophobia and toxic masculinity leading up to 90s Glasgow.⁣⁣
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Douglas's writing had me in awe. The subtlety used to describe each tragedy had my stomach drop further and my rage ignite more fervently than expected. I knew this book would give me a hangover from a couple chapters in, and I was so right. This book, although the story is expertly told and astoundingly written, cannot be digested in one sitting. Dark and twisted, at many points it was heartbreakingly hard to swallow. ⁣⁣
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𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝟓 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬 ⭐(and more). ⁣⁣
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I am so grateful to have been allowed early access to this amazing book. Thank you @panmacmillan @picadorbooks @netgalley ❤

I cannot tell you how important and incredible this novel was to read. After reading Shuggie Bain, I was scared for the first quarter of the book that it was going to be too similar. But, Douglas didn't let us down! This book was very harrowing and traumatising, and one that I probably couldn't face reading again, but it was a beautiful and momentous read.

By the time I finished this book, Mungo had wrapped himself around my heart just as Shuggie did. Douglas Stuart has done it again.

Young Mungo reads almost like a sequel to Shuggie Bain. There are a lot of parallels. It’s set in Glasgow or around 1992/93, and Mungo is 15 (the age Shuggie was when we left him I think?). There’s the same grinding poverty and brutality as Shuggie Bain, but with sectarian conflict and a young boy coming to terms with his sexuality added into the mix.

When we first meet Mungo, he is heading off on a camping trip with two dubious characters and there is a terrible sense of foreboding as the narrative switches between that trip and a time period a few months prior.

Mungo’s mother Maureen (or Mo-Maw as Mungo calls her) is an alcoholic who has effectively abandoned her children for a man. Mungo’s older brother Hamish is a bully; his sister Jodie is a sweetheart who is destined for better things despite her circumstances holding her back.

Mungo meets James, a young Catholic boy with an interest in racing pigeons who has a similar absence of love in his life, and the two form a strong bond across the sectarian divide.

Despite the similarities with Shuggie, the book holds its own. There is misery and violence and tragedy, but there is also warmth and colour and humour. Stuart is a phenomenal writer. His characters are so well-drawn, they come alive on the page. The dialogue is so perfect, it almost hurts to read it at times. When you’re not reading the book, you’re thinking about the characters. When you’ve finished the book, you’re wondering what happened to them. Even the characters on the fringes of the story leave their mark.

There is a juxtaposition between the sordid, gruesome violence and the tender sweetness of first love in this book that is so powerfully done, it leaves you shaken.

On balance and if I had to choose, I probably slightly preferred Shuggie but it’s like asking who my favourite child is. 5/5 ⭐️

*Many thanks to the author, the publishers @panmacmillan @groveatlantic @picadorbooks and to @netgalley for an advance digital copy of this book. Young Mungo will be published on 14 April 2022. As always, this is an honest review.*