The extraordinary, powerful second novel from the Booker Prize-winning author of Shuggie Bain, Young Mungo is both a vivid portrayal of working-class life and the deeply moving story of the dangerous first love of two young men: Mungo and James.

Born under different stars, Protestant Mungo and Catholic James live in a hyper-masculine world. They are caught between two of Glasgow’s housing estates where young working-class men divide themselves along sectarian lines, and fight territorial battles for the sake of reputation. 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. As they begin to fall in love, they dream of escaping the grey city, and Mungo must work hard to hide his true self from all those around him, especially from his elder brother, Hamish, a local gang leader with a brutal reputation to uphold.

But the threat of discovery is constant and the punishment unspeakable. When Mungo’s mother sends him on a fishing trip to a loch in Western Scotland, with two strange men behind whose drunken banter lie murky pasts, he needs to summon all his inner strength and courage to get back to a place of safety, a place where he and James might still have a future.

Imbuing the everyday world of its characters with rich lyricism, Douglas Stuart’s Young Mungo is a gripping and revealing story about the meaning of masculinity, the push and pull of family, the violence faced by so many queer people and the dangers of loving someone too much.

Listening Length

13 hours and 41 minutes
Author

Douglas Stuart
Narrator

Chris Reilly
Audible release date

April 14, 2022
Language

English
Publisher

Picador
ASIN

B099X8Q8QH
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	13 hours and 41 minutes
Author	Douglas Stuart
Narrator	Chris Reilly
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	April 14, 2022
Publisher	Picador
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B099X8Q8QH
Best Sellers Rank	#108,694 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #2,067 in LGBTQ+ Genre Fiction (Books) #36,118 in Literature & Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

5 star		69%
4 star		22%
3 star		6%
2 star		1%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Steve

Good

Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2022

This is a good read.

Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2022

Verified Purchase

Shuggie Bain, the author's first novel of life for a young man in Glasgow was pretty relentless in its depiction of the deprivation that existed within the working class of this great city as unemployment and decay set in. Young Mungo takes matters to another level, with a cast of characters that would be enough to send any young teenager into a permanent state of trauma. Will the author write a sequel to tell us if Mungo makes it into the adult world undamaged ? Be warned that despite Mungo being a sweet boy, the cast of this book are certainly not. I have taken a star away because I feel that the misery, the violence, the alcoholism of his mother, the dirt, the ugliness of the whole story are over written, stretching the credible beyond the reasonable.

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Julie

Young Mungo

Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2022

Verified Purchase

Very good read I have read Shuggie Bain really enjoyed it so was compelled to read Young Mungo was not disappointed I felt a sadness in the end but not everything ends well in life. I will await Mr Stuart’s next novel.

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lee phillips

Stunning second novel

Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2022

After just finishing Shuggie Bain, and loving it, I was anxious to start Mungo... its dark, like Shuggie, but more riveting in a way..twists, turns, beautiful character development , and interesting jumps in time... I'm savoring it, don't want to finish it, crawling toward the last page! Beautiful writing...rich, colorful, artful

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Andrea

Brilliant and brutal

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 14, 2022

Verified Purchase

How can a book be so desolate, heartbreaking and bleak yet so beautiful, vivid and gripping?
Young Mungo lives on a Glasgow council estate surrounded by poverty, sectarianism, toxic masculinity and violence. He loves his alcoholic mum too much, fears his gang-leader brother and idolises his sister who just wants to escape this hopeless life.
Two timelines are skilfully woven together: Mungo’s life in Glasgow and a fishing trip his mother sends him on with 2 strangers she’s met at AA.
It’s all so beautifully written - the lyrical prose, the real characters, great dialogue. It deals with trauma, abuse, and brutality but soaring through it, is the hopeful love of Mungo and James, and the ties which bind us all together.
Gritty, angry and raw; it’s the saddest most beautiful thing. Read this book!
Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC. All views are my own.
I also bought my own copy!

10 people found this helpful

Helen toal

Fantastic read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 26, 2022

Verified Purchase

I absolutely loved Douglas first novel Shuggie Bain and didn’t think Young Mungo would be as good, well I was blown away. Read it in two days. So raw and brutal in some parts but also very moving as young Mungo and James fall in love. I grew up in the Glasgow areas Douglas describes and he has described it perfectly. I so remember the young gangs of catholic and Protestants killing each other all for the sake of religion and gang territory. It’s a hard hitting and sometimes difficult read but also makes you laugh out loud the way he describes the Glaswegian humour. Loved loved this book.

4 people found this helpful

Kindle Customer

Totally absorbing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 18, 2022

Verified Purchase

It takes a great writer to entice me to read fiction these days and after Shuggie Bain I was sure that Douglas Stuart was hugely talented. When I read he was writing a love story set in the 1990's I ordered it straight away. I was completely gripped by it as I was by his first book capturing as it does that time and the fear and danger of being a gay man. Glasgow was certainly not the best place to be with it's homophobia and sectarian divide. I strongly recommend you read it.

One person found this helpful

Kerry M.

Visceral beauty

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 15, 2022

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This masterpiece in storytelling is truly a thing of desperate,painful,violent beauty. I cried for Mungo the poor little waif. Every character was rounded and totally believable, i felt utterly immersed in his bleak world. His descriptions of Glasgow,even though i havent been there,i could walk those streets in my mind.
It was exactly the same with Shuggie Bain,I loved every word of each book, it was an honour to step into the world that he so beautifully created, I cannot wait until his next one.

Caerba

Disappointed

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 9, 2022

Verified Purchase

Do not read this if you don't have a very strong constitution. Having found Shuggie Bain to be one of the best books I have read in many years I was very much looking forward to Young Mungo. Unfortunately, not only was disappointing in that it largely rehashed one of the main themes - the impact of an alcoholic mother on her son - but although it was billed as a love story across the sectarian divide, I did not find that theme particularly well explored and it was the shocking and brutal sexual violence in the story that is still haunting me several weeks after I finished the book. Sorry but I will think more than twice before picking up any future offerings by Douglas Stuart.

One person found this helpful

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