Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart
☆☆☆☆☆
.PDF, 402 pages
Expected Publication: 05 Apr 2022
By: Penguin Random House Canada, Knopf Canada
About The Book:
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.
My Review:
I loved Stuart's first book, Shuggie Bain, so much that it was one of my top three reads of 2021. It was an easy decision for me to request his newest one from NetGalley. Douglas Stuart has done it yet again with Young Mungo. He has written another heartbreakingly beautiful story about a young Glasgow man. Poor Mungo hasn't had an easy life, to say the least...but his good heart stays with him throughout, even though his life is full of tragedy and violence. The book deals with other heavy hitting topics as well such as addiction, motherhood, abuse and sexual identity, to name but a few. I found the entire book engrossing and appreciated that Stuart doesn't pull any punches. This isn't just a story on the hard parts of Mungo's life but also a story about love, acceptance, finding ones self and finding the strength to be true to yourself. So, again I am in awe of Stuart's writing and I loved how absorbed I became in these characters lives and how much I cared about them. All. The. Stars.
I loved Stuart's first book, Shuggie Bain, so much that it was one of my top three reads of 2021. It was an easy decision for me to request his newest one from NetGalley. Douglas Stuart has done it yet again with Young Mungo. He has written another heartbreakingly beautiful story about a young Glasgow man. Poor Mungo hasn't had an easy life, to say the least...but his good heart stays with him throughout, even though his life is full of tragedy and violence. The book deals with other heavy hitting topics as well such as addiction, motherhood, abuse and sexual identity, to name but a few. I found the entire book engrossing and appreciated that Stuart doesn't pull any punches. This isn't just a story on the hard parts of Mungo's life but also a story about love, acceptance, finding ones self and finding the strength to be true to yourself. So, again I am in awe of Stuart's writing and I loved how absorbed I became in these characters lives and how much I cared about them. All. The. Stars.
Disclosure:
With many thanks to NetGalley, Douglas Stuart and Penguin Random House Canada, Knopf Canada for the giving of the ARC.
#YoungMungo #NetGalley
With many thanks to NetGalley, Douglas Stuart and Penguin Random House Canada, Knopf Canada for the giving of the ARC.
#YoungMungo #NetGalley
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