Mungo and the Picture Book Pirates

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The address was written in a clear large script, careful letters formed by a hand that was not used to writing. Shuggie Bain did have a quality of seething and barely repressed, pressure-cooker pressure, and I feel Scott’s observation – exciting scrappiness versus immaculate polish – holds here. Up in the gallery, where a few well-bred young ladies were allowed to observe proceedings as long as they stayed silent, crinolines rustled and stays creaked as they leaned forward to see better. this gave me ‘a little life’ vibes in the sense that this story is about suffering, violence, and the dangers of love.

Young Mungo: The No. 1 Sunday Times Bestseller Kindle Edition

But Manners had tried to kill him, however incompetently, and that had unlocked a rage he had rarely felt before. The blurb makes it seem like it's a forbidden love story between a Protestant boy and a Catholic one. Stuart’s characters are vivid and heart-breaking, from delicate cameos like Poor Wee Chickie to Ha-Ha, Jodie and, of course, Mungo and James. Maureen Corrigan, NPR’s Fresh Air “ Young Mungo bridges the worlds of Stuart’s earlier novel and stories . 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.I appreciate the fact that more queer love stories are making their way into the world, EVEN THOUGH this is NOT the kind of queer content I want to read. The main protagonist is the fifteen year old Mungo Hamilton, son of a largely absent alcoholic single-mother (herself still under 35) and largely bought up by his older sister Jodie (now 17) in a Glasgow housing scheme.

Mungo Makes New Friends | Mantra Lingua UK Mungo Makes New Friends | Mantra Lingua UK

When Mungo and Jodie go to her rescue by fabricating an excuse as to why she is needed in their flat, and Mungo innocently asks as to why she stays with the bastard, Mrs Campbell launches into a long diatribe justifying her husband’s appalling behaviour: “Ye’re too wee to know anything about men and their anger. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsover without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.With an absent dad and an uncaring alcoholic mom, Mungo grows up primarily bonding with his 17 year old sister Jodie, who is forced to take care of the home along with her studies. Mungo thrust the poker back so that it hit him in the stomach, then twisted it out of his hands and cracked him over the shoulders. Old Mungo’ would be as satisfying a title as any for the third, because one thing that fascinates me about the world of extreme poverty, deprivation, and violence depicted so powerfully here is what modern Glasgow looks like beneath the scars of her brutal past. Vividly realised and emotionally intense, this scorching novel is an urgent addition to the new canon of unsung stories.

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart | Goodreads

If only I could, I would give this many more than 5 stars - heartbreaking, breathtaking and very memorable. I read this book in small pieces, put it away, hugged my family (or my cats), and then dove in again because I wanted to be back with Mungo. We soon learn that the men – “St” Christopher and the younger, more sinister Gallowgate – have been in jail.If the quality of Stuart's writing continues to be of this high caliber, he going to have to make room for more awards on his trophy shelf - I would be amazed if this doesn't garner at LEAST another Booker nomination, and perhaps even take the crown again in 2022.

Young Mungo: 100 Must-Read Books of 2022 | TIME

I know many reviewers have loved this, so apologies, but for me it embodies what can often be the problem of the second book after a runaway and highly acclaimed bestseller.

His older sister, Jodie, is a steely, uncompromising and sometimes dislikeable young woman, left in the lurch by their mother’s frequent booze-related absences.