7/7/2023 0 Comments Review young mungo![]() Mungo is a sensitive soul who fails ‘to see the difference between what someone said and what they truly meant’ with an endless capacity for forgiveness when it comes to his selfish mother. Meanwhile, their mother Maureen, herself a victim of generations of poverty and neglect, spends her days drinking or chasing men and puts in the occasional guest appearance at home. His brother Hamish terrorises the neighbourhood while his sister Jodie, hell-bent on escaping, works like a dog, inside and outside of school. Mungo, 17, is the youngest of three siblings. We’re in post-Thatcher and pre-Blair Glasgow. Still a good read, but not the mind-blower that was Shuggie Bain. In true Stuart style, characters and places rise from the page but I felt some of the pace and immediacy of his debut was missing in this book. A burgeoning love between Mungo and fellow loner James is at the core of this book, the moving tenderness of their relationship in stark contrast to the rough realities on the street and at home. ![]() Although the setting is very much the same – Glaswegian tenements, dysfunctional families, absent fathers and alcoholic mothers – the story feels different enough to engage even those who’ve read Shuggie Bain. Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart follows on from Stuart’s outstanding Booker Prize winning debut Shuggie Bain. ![]()
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