Young Mungo: The No. 1 Sunday Times Bestseller

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Preston focused in particular on the love story between Mungo and James and stated that he cried at the end of the story. Jamie recently lost his mother and now effectively lives alone for much of his time as his father is an offshore rig worker and spends his spare time doe-fleein (the lure-ing of other doe-fleers pigeons away through sexual attraction forming an understated metaphor for the whole novel). The novel opens with Mungo Hamilton, a 15-year-old Scottish teenager, preparing for a trip with two men who his mother met at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, St. The novel conveys an enveloping sense of place, in part through the wit and musicality of its dialogue. Though Stuart is capable of economical effects, he elects to remind the reader of central dynamics and traits: “She wondered what lay ahead for her baby brother.

It interweaves two timelines: Mungo’s fishing trip, which has a palpable sense of dread hanging on every word, and then his life in Glasgow itself. They should be sworn enemies if they're to be seen as men at all, and yet they become best friends as they find a sanctuary in the pigeon dovecote that James has built for his prize racing birds. In many ways this is a hard book to read and review, as what happens to young Mungo is painful and depressing. I won’t give a list of trigger warnings so just trust me on this: every single triggering issue is in this storyline. Do you know that feeling when one of your colleagues at work comes down with a stomach flu, and then one by one your coworkers drop like flies, and you know it's only a matter of time until it hits you too?The tension of the romance is expertly sustained, as is the sense of the real heroism of being a star-crossed lover in a Jets and Sharks world.

It won the Sue Kaufman award from The American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Book of the Year, and the Debut of the Year at the British Book Awards in 2021. He's got nothing except what he's seen, what's surrounded him his whole life when Life, the great existential crisis that is Life, crashes down on him.

While Jodie is both well liked and studious, the two year older Hamish (Ha-Ha), despite his short stature and “speccy” appearance is a widely feared gang leader, head of a Protestant group of Billy Boys who engage both in crime and in brutal fights against the neighbouring Catholic gang from the next settlement – the Royston Bhoys. A quotation from The Observer review declares this as “a gay Romeo and Juliet set in the brutal world of Glasgow’s housing estates”, a description that made me blanch. He’s too fine a storyteller to go for a sentimental ending, and the final act leaves the reader gutted.

Gallowgate is a former inmate of Barlinnie Prison, while St Christopher is no saint, just Sunday-Thursday Christopher. In particular, I was impressed with how 'alive' even very minor characters become under his sure hand: Poor-Wee-Chrissie; Mo-Maw's swain, Jocky; Mrs. It’s a testament to Stuart’s unsparing powers as a storyteller that we can’t possibly anticipate how very badly—and baroquely—things will turn out. I loved those first moments when Mungo and James comforted each other, and they made me forget the darkness and the heartbreaking moments for a while.

But Stuart makes the small differences count, of which the most important is that Mungo is older than Shuggie, and beginning to see in his sexuality not just a source of difference and alienation but a possible route to escape and emancipation. His sister does the best she can to fill the kindness void, but she's barely older than Mungo by the calendar.

I had to put the novel down halfway at a particularly grim point, which made me wonder what had happened to the love angle. This by contrast is a much more linear story – tracing not so much the process of accumulation (of alcohol on the family unit, of Thatcher-era heavy-industry decimation on the society) but the sudden impact of that accumulated toxicity (with the toxicity her masculinity as well as alcohol) in a series of dramatic incidents including a vicious gang fight and a series of shocking occurrences. A strong measure of his success lies in how the reader, while appreciating the artistry of each harrowing scene, continually thinks: Please let it end.Just when I became overwhelmed and was about to give up any sense of hope in the humanity of the story, he quietly and effortlessly switched to tracing the growing attraction between Mungo and James, two damaged children from torn families in a broken world, and on the wrong side of a religious and cultural divide to boot. But the largest similarity of all is that this is another superbly and clearly patiently crafted piece of writing, with deeply rounded characters, a vivid use of language and many striking and original similes (as well as some subtle use of metaphor). Is it haunted by the blood and violence that stalked its streets and took place behind closed doors? Across the street, Mungo sees James as he is preparing to leave, as Jodie had contacted him to see if he knew anything about Mungo's whereabouts. My heartfelt thanks to LM, Netgalley, and Grove Atlantic for the ARC in exchange for this honest and VERY enthusiastic review.