Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

 

Mungo is fourteen and lives on a housing estate in Glasgow, Scotland.  His mother had the children young, only twenty when Mungo the youngest was born.  She is an alcoholic who is rarely home, off with men who will keep her supplied with drink.  Mungo's oldest brother, Hamish, is eighteen.  He is the leader of a group of Protestant boys who fight with Catholics and immigrants.  Hamish already is a father and spends most of his time with his young girlfriend and baby.  That leaves Mungo alone most often with his big sister Jodie.  Jodie is smart and yearns to go to college one day if she can break free.

Lonely most of the time, Mungo meets James.  James lives with his father but his father works on the oil rigs, away for weeks at a time, leaving James to live alone.  His family is Catholic so he and Mungo should never be friends according to those around him.  James raises pigeons and the boys bond over their care.  Eventually the friendship turns romantic although both boys are ashamed of their love for each other.

There are two main stories that intertwine in the book.  One is the friendship between Mungo and James and how that progresses over time and the other is a weekend that Mungo spends camping with two old men.  His mother has sent him away with them, saying they will show Mungo how to fish and survive in the woods but really because they provided her with money to buy the drink she cannot live without.  What happens on that trip will affect Mungo's life forever.  

Douglas Stuart got off to a huge start in the literary world.  His first book, Shuggie Bain, won the Booker Prize which is unheard of.  This book echoes many of the same themes, the Scottish lower class families, the enmity between the two religions and homosexual love.  The book is lyrical and the reader will just want to reach into the pages and save Mungo from the disasters one can see coming for him.  I listened to this novel and the narrator's Scottish accent made the characters and place come alive.  I'm looking forward to Stuart's third book to see if he can break away from this environment and write about different things.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.