Mungo and the Picture Book Pirates

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I have to say I was especially impressed by this as I wasn't a huge fan of Stuart's first novel, the Booker Prize-winning Shuggie Bain. In many ways this feels very similar to SB, however where that one felt like an exercise in writing, something that had been worked on for so long it lost a bit of its life, this felt ripe with experience. Mungo is one of the most endearing, sympathetic and vivid characters I've read about in a long time. That makes the events of this novel all the more powerful. You are rooting for him so badly, that every misstep or hiccup in his life deeply affect the reader. Nicola Sturgeon, former First Minister of Scotland Few novels are as gutsy and gut-wrenching as Young Mungo in its depiction of a teenage boy who finds love amid family dysfunction, community conflict and the truly terrible predations of adults. Vividly realised and emotionally intense, this scorching novel is an urgent addition to the new canon of unsung stories. Or to use my phrase I would say it is about the insidious toxicity of masculinity, particularly when amplified by societal deprivation. The two young men stared at each other, both holding the poker. Mungo knew that what Fairchild said was true, but he could not bring himself to let go. He tried to twist the weapon from Fairchild’s grasp, heaving with all his might. Fairchild’s fingers flexed; he was not as strong as Mungo. His grip threatened to break. But he had an iron will and would not yield.

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

Fifteen-year-old Mungo shows the kind of vulnerability that makes people want to cradle him — or crush him. He’s the tender Scottish hero of Douglas Stuart’s moving new novel, “Young Mungo.” It’s a tale of romantic and sexual awakening punctuated by horrific violence. Amid all its suffering, Mungo’s story makes two things strikingly clear: 1) Being named after the patron saint of Glasgow offers no protection, and 2) Stuart writes like an angel.In case anyone is wondering if “Young Mungo”, is as good as “Snuggie Bain”, by Scottish-American Douglas Stuart, the gifted 2020 Booker Prize winner - the answer is YES!!!!

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

There is none of the sentiment or accidental empathy here that accrued to the mother figure in ‘Shuggie Bain’, by dint of the reader spending so much time in her sozzled company (hogging the limelight from her son, whose name after all does adorn the cover). Religion plays a role in both with interestingly mothers that seem far less concerned at crossing the religious divide than those around them.They are members of Alcoholic Anonymous. S’pose my maw thought it would do us awesome good to get some air about us”. In terms of geographical setting – both are in of course set in the author’s birth town of Glasgow (albeit "Shuggie Bain" more on the outskirts for much of its time and this having a second strand some way North). I attempted this several times before my netgalley arc expired, but it sadly wasn't to be. I'm not sure exactly what went wrong because I loved Shuggie Bain and, in many ways, this is a very similar kind of story with a similar tone. If he felt the hostility aimed at him, it did not shake the easy grin from his face. Indeed, he seemed to feed off the crowd’s energy.