I read this for The BookTube Prize in the summer of 2023, though it wasn’t one I had planned to read otherwise. I read Shuggie Bain in 2021 for the same reason, and while I found it difficult going – of course – I was also glad I read it. It was dark, being the story of a young boy’s relationship with his alcoholic mother, but had such truth to it, such complexity, and such tenderness that I came away from it feeling love more than darkness, despite my expectations. I wasn’t sure if this magic could be reproduced in Young Mungo, and because Shuggie Bain was such tough going for me to read, I didn’t really plan to go there again. I don’t think I was wrong in this assessment.
Young Mungo is the story of a young man who is growing up in a very rough neighbourhood in Scotland. His mother, true to Stuart’s themes, is a bit of a mess and not the best parental influence. She has a tendency to run off and leave her kids to fend for themselves. Mungo’s older brother Hamish is a young father and the leader of a local gang. His influence on Mungo isn’t positive, and he leads the way into a life Mungo doesn’t want.
When Mungo meets James, a boy who lives in the neighbourhood but is Catholic to Mungo’s Protestant background. They both know their relationship isn’t one they should pursue. James is left alone a lot, and spends his time tending to his beloved pigeons – something Mungo loves about him. His tenderness and patience with the birds shows Mungo a side to someone he hasn’t seen in his family or neighbourhood. They become closer and closer, and as they do so the potential danger of their relationship grows.
As we are learning all of this backstory, the book pops forward in time to Mungo having been sent on a trip by his mother with two men he doesn’t know. One is a blatant criminal, the other is a disturbingly unsavoury character. The two are apparently going to show Mungo how to be a man by taking him on a camping and fishing trip into the wilderness, but this trip is not one of mentorship or caring. I won’t go into details about what happens on this trip – I’m sure your imagination isn’t far off – but it’s slowly revealed as the book carries us through Mungo’s life, and is the dark threat that underpins Mungo’s burgeoning understanding of his own desires.
This book is, like Shuggie Bain, a stark portrayal of what the lives of young men in these circumstances often are. The lack of proper parental support, the lack of positive outlets, the lack of acceptance for those who aren’t suited to this life, and the lack of a future worth striving for. It’s bleak, it’s dark, it’s full of damaged people who are passing on that brokenness to the next generation. This is certainly not a good situation for a young gay man to explore his sexuality and find a first love.
One aspect of this book I liked was the introduction of a gay man who lives in the neighbourhood. He is spurned by the community, is the butt of ridicule and the cautionary tale that parents use to scare their kids away from pursuing any gay leanings they may have. Mungo is drawn to him, and discovers that as much as the community shuns him, he encourages this as he is okay on his own. He’s not the scary figure of twisted perversion that he is presented to be, but rather an intelligent and keenly observant peripheral part of the community. Though he is not a main character in the book, he is the one that stuck with me most strongly.
The character of Mungo develops remarkably throughout the book. He isn’t broken, but nor is he rendered hard and closed off like so many of the other young men in his situation. This is the one part of the book I did admire and connect to – his resilience and survival instinct, and his ability to withstand heartbreak, pain and loss without losing himself. It’s what left me feeling some hope for his character as the story came to its end, and what saved it from being an entirely grim read, though only barely.
I know that this book has been widely read and praised. I know it’s well written and tells vital stories. But it’s just not one that I enjoyed all that much. I came out of it mostly glad to have completed it, and glad that I could move on to reading the next book on my list. I don’t mean to discourage those of you who are interested in reading it – I think if you are drawn to it, there’s a lot here that will likely be exactly what you are seeking, and done very well. But if you aren’t, I wouldn’t say you need to force yourself to read it, either.
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.
Imbuing the everyday world of its characters with rich lyricism and giving full voice to people rarely acknowledged in the literary world, Young Mungo is a gripping and revealing story about the bounds of masculinity, the divisions of sectarianism, the violence faced by many queer people, and the dangers of loving someone too much. – Goodreads
Book Title: Young Mungo
Author: Douglas Stuart
Series: No
Edition: Audiobook
Published By: Grove Press
Released: April 5, 2022
Genre: Fiction, Family, Poverty, LGBTQIA2S+
Pages: 390
Date Read: August 1-6, 2023
Rating: 7/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.38/5 (52,548 ratings)
My BookTube Prize Ranking: 6th out of 6