Young Mungo - Douglas Stuart

Author: Douglas Stuart

Narrator: Chris Reilly

Genre: Coming of Age, Literary Fiction

Rating: 1 star.

In a Nutshell: Depending on what you like as a reader, you are either going to love this book or hate it. Very few will fall in the in-between range. Unfortunately for me, I hated it. The audiobook made matters worse.

Story:

15 year old Mungo is the youngest of three siblings. 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. Their elder brother Hamish is a gang leader and head of a Protestant group that engages in violent fights against a neighbouring Catholic gang.

Protestant Mungo falls for Catholic Jamie, despite their best efforts to suppress their feelings. To “rectify” the issue and the repercussions of this forbidden love, Mungo’s mom sends him away on a fishing trip with two men from her AA group in order to “man him up”.

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.

The book is written in a limited third person narration mainly from Mungo’s point of view.

Where the book worked for me:

✔ Some part of the prose is beautifully written.

✔ It is set in the Glasgow of the early 1990s and SEEMS to capture the gloomy part of the city aptly.

✔ 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.

Where the book did not work for me:

❌ Nothing much happens in the first half and too much happens in the second half.

❌ The book doesn’t feel like effortless writing. It tries too hard to justify the tag of 'literary fiction' and is just as verbose as the blurb indicates. Some analogies work. Most are superfluous and/or superficial. Flowery prose appeals to me only if it is accompanied by a strong plot. When there are miles and miles of prose and barely any signs of a plot, I lose my interest.

❌ Atmosphere and literary flourishes have been given the highest priority. Plot progression, the lowest. The plot here goes in every direction except straight ahead.

❌ I usually enjoy reading grey characters but this time, not a single one of them gained my loyalty or sympathy. The one to come closest was Mungo's elder sister Jodie.

❌ The blurb makes it seem like it's a forbidden love story between a Protestant boy and a Catholic one. This forms just a small part of the storyline. The main story is more like a bildungsroman, but not in a good way.

❌ Make a list of bad things that could happen in a literary fiction. You will find every item on that list in this novel. It felt like misery porn. Not one good thing happens to anyone! Sensitive readers, stay away from the book. I won’t give a list of trigger warnings so just trust me on this: every single triggering issue is in this storyline. Some of these scenes were way too graphic.

❌ I can understand Mungo snapping under the incidents that happened in the current timeline but seriously? Snapping that way? It felt so abrupt and out of character. He was just 15 for God’s sake! What the heck was the intent behind that decision? (Actually, I fail to understand the intent behind this entire plot!)

The audiobook experience:

The audiobook clocks at 13 hrs 40 min and is narrated by Chris Reilly. I really can’t comment much on his narration because the content itself was such that I kept zoning out. He read well but he had a strong Scottish(?) accent which was initially tough to get attuned to. This meant that I couldn’t even increase the speed of the audio for a major chunk of the book.

Furthermore, the audio doesn’t distinguish between the two timelines. Each new section begins with just the chapter number. It's tedious to keep the story straight when you need to keep waiting for a clue about the track playing in your ears. Add in the fact that I couldn’t even concentrate and I found myself totally lost multiple times over. I do NOT recommend the audio version.

I MIGHT have liked this a tad better if I had read it. But as an audiobook, it was a dud. The only reason I grabbed this was because I had heard so much about ‘Shuggie Bain’. I can’t make a comparison between the two because I haven’t read ‘Shuggie Bain’. (And now I am certain that I never will.)

I can see how some readers will go gaga over this book. Those who believe literary fiction serves its purpose best if it delves into the dreary side of human existence might love this story. But it simply wasn’t my cup of tea.

This is going to be the very first ARC I am rating as a 1 star and I hate doing this. But giving it two stars will not represent my experience accurately. It was just a waste of my time and a terribly frustrating read. The only reason I didn’t DNF it was that it was an audiobook.

I simply can’t recommend this book. But hey, 86% of GR reviews rate it 4 stars and above. So you might still like it. Do read the other reviews before you make up your mind. If you do decide to read it, please don’t go for the audio version.

My thanks to RB Media and NetGalley for the ALC of “Young Mungo”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook. I’m very sorry this worked out so badly.