Young Mungo Douglas Stewart

[3kidsaremorethanenough]

In the middle of this, don't know if I'm enjoying it, or if I can describe it as enjoy, but I can't put it down. I did love Shuggie Bain

Anyone else read or reading this? What were your thoughts on it

He writes very well, but I didn’t enjoy this as much as Shuggie Bain, because it is so relentlessly bleak. In SB you get glimpses of hope and humour which are pretty much absent here. Virtually every character is hate filled or weak. I admired but didn’t love it.

I loved it, and couldn't put it down eiethr. I agree it's grim in parts, but it's also about love, and resilience. That part of the world is very familiar to me and I could 'see' all the characters, especially his sister Jodie and neighbour Chickie.

I think that's exactly it, the humour of SB is missing. it is very bleak, and i can do bleak but this is crippling. I'm half way through and i take it stays bleak to the end!!

*either

Yes I’m afraid it stays pretty bleak though there is a faint gleam of hope at the end. I would say to finish it unless you’re finding it unbearable. I think for his next book he should move away from the awfulness of life as a young gay man in 80s Glasgow.

I agree @pollyhemlock - well written but absolutely grim. I preferred Shuggie Bain myself.

And yes; he's a really good writer but I hope he widens his scope for his next novel. Both the main characters also have mothers with a drink problem - as I believe Douglas Stuart's mum also had - a completely different theme next time would be good.

I loved it but it was pretty relentlessly grim, especially the camping trip chapters.

Cricket I thought Shuggie Baine was bleak, can’t imagine something bleaker. The inexorable slide into alcoholism and all the degradation on the way was hard to stomach. Won’t be hurrying to read young Mungo.

I read it when it first came out and struggled too. Absolutely loved SB and recommended it to friends. Not so much YM.

When I briefly described the storyline to a friend who had also enjoyed SB, she said "oh, thanks for that, won't bother reading it as it sounds like SB Part 2". I've since thought it is too similar.

However, if I were half way through I would finish it. Stuart Douglas is a fantastic writer and some of the sub stories are worth the ending.

Just finished this, having bought it soon after it was released then not got round to reading it then I couldn't put it down. I thought it was quite different from SB. Relentlessly bleak, distressing trauma bonds, gruesome violence. Totally compelling. Unlike in SB I didn't "recognise" many of the characters, but I did recognise the homes they lived in and the ever present sectarianism.