Young Mungo (2022)-Douglas Stuart
This book is worth it if you can get through it
Content Warnings: homophobia, rape, violence, self-induced abortion, ableism, alcoholism
Representation: mlm, tic disorder
Favorite Quote: “Mungo knew he wanted to spend his life doing this, just kissing this one boy. There was no need to rush.”
Young Mungo is a dark and reflective coming-of-age novel that follows Mungo, a loveable character who deserves better. Mungo is the younger brother of a barely adult Protestant gang leader who wages war on the Catholics across town and a bright barely older sister who practically raised Mungo in their mother’s frequent negligence. In this struggling family, Mungo attempts to be the glue that keeps them together but as he begins to fall for James, a Catholic boy that he meets in the park, he starts to realize that staying in this town is unsustainable.
The novel opens with the start of a fishing trip Mungo is sent on with two men his mother met from AA and alternates to the months leading up to the trip. This makes for a large portion of the novel without context, but the placement of the parallel narratives is carefully organized to reveal what history is relevant to the present moment of the trip. Throughout the book is a poetic prose interspersed with the strongly accented English of the Glaswegians.
The romance between Mungo and James is sweet and well representative of young teenagers finding their first love. The nature of their identities as young gay men in the 80’s and their differing religions, however, dooms them to facing opposition underserved to these children. The story becomes very dark, making the representation difficult to determine the quality of, but the novel is not without tenderness and humor.
A particular quality of Mungo that I personally appreciated was his facial motor tic and nervous tendency to pick at his face. Though it is not specified that he has Tourette’s Syndrome, it is presented as a possibility and his experiences reflect those of a tic disorder. This is representation that is seldom found in any form of media and should be given credit to.
Young Mungois a solid read with exceptional writing. It is, however, a fairly long book for my usual taste and is difficult to read at times due to how dark and violent it can get. Heed the content warnings before deciding to read this book, but if you do, expect a compelling story that balances sweetness with tragedy.