Young Mungo- Douglas Stuart
Young Mungo sees Douglas Stuart exploring similar themes to that of his first novel, 2020 Booker Prize winner Shuggie Bain. Both books follow young male protagonists doing their best to survive under challenging circumstances amongst troubled families in working-class Glaswegian communities hard hit by the effects of Margaret Thatcher’s policies.
Whilst politics and the effects of Thatcherism were more explicitly explored in Shuggie Bain, Young Mungo tells a more intimate coming-of-age story; that of Mungo Hamilton, brother of the intellectually promising Jodie, and troubled bully, Hamish Hamilton, and son of Mo-Maw, who struggles with alcohol and self-esteem affect her ability to be the mother her son needs.
Whilst Stuart’s two novels tell stories that are very much set in the same world - a world that he paints as vividly as he does grittily - Young Mungo is, at its heart, a love story, remembered throughout a harrowing and transformative fishing trip in northern Scotland, on which teenage Mungo is sent with two acquaintances of his mother to make a man of him; after all, “there was nothing more shameful than being a poofter; powerless, soft as a woman.”
A lack of wider acceptance of homosexuality is a prevalent theme in Young Mungo. We join Mungo on his journey of discovery as he meets the flaxen-haired pigeon-keeper, James. Like many boys like him at the time, Mungo feels that there is something inherently wrong with him, but he feels a magnetic draw to James despite his hesitation. We meet Poor-Wee-Chickie, “a bachelor” ridiculed and shunned by the local community, yet he is one of the few characters to show selfless kindness to Mungo.
Stuart perfectly captures an experience unique to gay people growing up in a time lacking in understanding: the feeling of finding love that is forbidden and must be hidden from even those closest to us for fear of being found out as something wrong, something dirty, something we are let to believe we shouldn’t be. Mungo goes through life making “himself as small as possible” because the smaller he is, the less likely he is to draw attention to himself, another familiar experience for many gay teenagers. One would hope that these challenges are less prevalent nowadays for gay youth, but no doubt they still exist in many places. It is expected that a novel like Young Mungo might provide solace to anyone feeling such fear and alienation in today’s slightly more accepting world.
Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo are intrinsically linked, both as hopeful as they are bleak yet packed with humour; Stuart seems to be chronologically detailing different phases of the gay experience through these emotionally resonant and compelling works; perhaps his next novel will tell the story of a less challenging period, one less filled with fear, confusion, and pain. It would be wonderful to know that protagonists such as Shuggie and Mungo can grow up to find the love, happiness and care they deserve.
Young Mungo is out now. Purchase it from your local independent bookstore today! Thanks to Grove Atlantic for the advanced copy through Netgalley. Can’t wait for a finished copy of this one.
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