It's a joy to watch, in real time, as Douglas Stuart takes his place as one of the greats of Scottish literature. As the lights came on in the slick streets the protestant boys beg But because of the tender love between those two boys, Young Mungo felt a little more hopeful to me. We soon learn that the men – “St” Christopher and the younger, more sinister Gallowgate – have been in jail.

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

The story comes in two timelines – one detailing the fishing trip and what happens to Mungo with the two strangers his mom has assigned him to; and one about the events that lead to the fishing trip. When a reader touches the page, this clever, innovative digital pen reads out the text – in English, French, Polish, Arabic. Mungo and James fall in love and plan to escape as soon as Mungo turns 16, but their bond is doubly star-crossed. I promise you, if any English loom worker or coal miner glimpsed life on the plantation, he would swap his life for that in a second. Library Journal(starred review) “Stuart shines in familiar territory, writing profoundly about love, brutality, strength and courage.Yen Pham, New York Times Book Review “ Young Mungo is a finer novel than its predecessor, offering many of the same pleasures, but with a more sure-footed approach to narrative and a finer grasp of prose.

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart - Pan Macmillan Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart - Pan Macmillan

I also enjoyed the structure and how well Stuart navigates between the two timeframes, bringing them beautifully together for a final chapter that is nothing less than devastating, yet hopeful. Their brief three-day interlude of mutual self-discovery is wrought with great delicacy and feeling, which makes the violence and horror this bubble of love and trust is embedded in all the more terrible as it unfolds so inexorably.Is it haunted by the blood and violence that stalked its streets and took place behind closed doors? 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. 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 doocot that James has built for his prize racing pigeons. It was many years before Arundhati Roy produced another novel after The God of Small Things, and even then it partook more of her polemics than her storytelling.

Book review: Young Mungo, by Douglas Stuart - The Scotsman Book review: Young Mungo, by Douglas Stuart - The Scotsman

Or to use my phrase I would say it is about the insidious toxicity of masculinity, particularly when amplified by societal deprivation. We open with Mungo being sent off with two strangers for a long weekend in the countryside, to learn fishing and lighting fires and snaring rabbits. he] was her mother’s minor moon, her warmest sun, and at the exact same time, a tiny satellite that she had forgotten about. The woman excuses her husband’s appalling conduct because she loves him – much like the Hamilton siblings with Mo-Maw (“If anybody should understand .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.

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart review – grit and longing in

They live on a Glasgow scheme rife with sectarian violence between the “Prodders” and the “Fenians”. The 'Ballantyne' novels include A Falcon Flies, Men of Men, The Angels Weep and The Leopard Hunts in Darkness.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.