Young Mungo - Douglas Stuart

Jessica Watson

May 29, 20222 min read

Since reading Shuggie Bain, I have been waiting very impatiently for Douglas Stuart's next book so as soon as Young Mungo was released, I just had to get my hands on a copy and read it immediately. And it did not disappoint...

SYNOPSIS: 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, while Mungo works hard to hide his true self from all those around him, especially from his big brother Hamish, a local gang leader with a brutal reputation to uphold. And when several months later Mungo's mother sends him on a fishing trip to a loch in Western Scotland with two strange men whose drunken banter belies murky pasts, he will need to summon all his inner strength and courage to try to get back to a place of safety, a place where he and James might still have a future.

REVIEW: First of all, I strongly suggest that you read the trigger warnings for this book before going ahead and reading because some parts of the book are heartbreakingly graphic.

I thought that Young Mungo was very similar to Shuggie Bain in terms of setting, characters’ struggles and some parts of the plot but I also found it very unique/different too. When I went to see Douglas Stuart talk about this book he compared Young Mungo to Shuggie Bain by saying that ‘Shuggie Bain was a book about a mother and son relationship whereas Young Mungo is about a boy coming of age’ and I would completely agree. I love the parallels that Stuart creates in the book and when I finished reading, I even said to myself that the plot was just the right balance between love and hate, bad and good. This push and pull that Stuart creates both within the story and between the characters make this book even more heartbreaking because as a reader, you’re full of hope but Stuart doesn’t always give the reader what they want. I absolutely adored the book and I really enjoyed the exploration of young, teenage love especially between two boys; one Protestant and the other Catholic. Mungo and his family will stay with me forever, much like Shuggie Bain and Agnes. I’m so intrigued to hear what the rest of you think about this book in comparison to his debut…and I’m excited for what Douglas has next. Hopefully, the wait won’t be too long.