TRIGGER WARNING: Physical and sexual abuse

THE PLOT: ‘Young Mungo’ by Douglas Stuart is a literary novel set in 80’s Glasgow. 15-year-old Mungo is a sensitive boy who simply wants to be loved. Yet his life is comprised of taking care of his alcoholic mother, dodging attacks from his violent Protestant gang-lord brother and clinging to his clever sister. When Mungo meets James – a gentle, romantic Catholic boy, he starts to wonder if there is a future for him after all. But in these sectarian streets they must keep their friendship a secret from Mungo’s brother, from everyone, or their lives will be over.

RATING: Wow, what a tender, heart-breaking book. Touted as a gay Romeo and Juliet, the beauty of Mungo’s relationship with James radiated off the page. This is not an easy book to read, with homophobia leading to physical and sexual violence. Indeed, I struggled with some of the more painful, visceral depictions of abuse. Yet Stuart is a masterful writer, so adept at capturing the cruel, harsh world of 80’s Glasgow and the damage done to a generation of working class boys who grew up under Thatcherism. My main criticism is that, like the Shakespeare play, this story is ultimately a tragedy; I wanted slightly more love and optimism to balance the narrative and prevent it from straying into “trauma porn”. But, overall, I have to give four and a half stars for such an accomplished work of fiction.

GOOD BITS: From the moment I started reading, I knew this was a brilliant book. There were so many sentences I wanted to underline and I could feel the atmosphere seeping off the page. The writing style is masterful and I love how words are spelt phonetically so you can hear the Glaswegian accents as you’re reading. Each character is well-rounded with their own struggles and complete lives. Even the most hateful character, such as Mungo’s mother and brother, has clear reasons for the way they are and the cruelty they inflict on others.

NOT SO GOOD BITS: It’s difficult not to compare this to Stuarts’ first novel, ‘Shuggie Bain’. I don’t mind that both books have similar settings, protagonists and tone. However, I wanted ‘Young Mungo’ to be more hopeful as a contrast. While tackling heavy themes, the reader is left feeling bereft in the extent of Mungo’s journey through unimaginable hell. At first, I wasn’t sure the dual timeline was necessary as it provided a lot of the trauma in the plot and, while it all fell into place, I wonder if it was too much. If the book was told linearly, I think the emphasis would be on Mungo and James’ relationship and it would lead some of the more harrowing, extreme aspects of the other timeline to be omitted.

OVERALL: I’d recommend this book to lovers of ‘Milkman’ by Anna Burns, ‘Betty’ by Tiffany McDaniels and ‘Real Life’ by Brandon Taylor. If you like complex novels that make you cry, this is a book for you.

Thank you to @notabeneprize and @paper_smiths for sending me this book, which is on their shortlist. I’ll be heading to their Winner’s Event tomorrow to find out if this has taken the top prize.

#NotaBenePrize #NotableReaders #InfluentialFiction