![]() ![]() All he knows is that amid the blood and alcohol and spittle-sprayed violence of his daily existence, James is a gentle, calming respite. ![]() He doesn’t have a clue what it is he wants. Even after Mungo meets the kindred James, a Catholic boy who keeps pigeons, he is overwhelmed by his self-loathing, assuming all the calamity around him is somehow his fault. Hamish, Mungo’s hooligan brother and ringleader of a gang of Protestant Billy Boys, is a constant threat to Mungo, who, tender of heart and profoundly lonely, is at the mercy of his violent moods. Mungo’s father is long gone, and Mungo’s sister, Jodie, looks after their household as best she can. Mungo is 15, the youngest of three Protestant siblings growing up in one of the city’s poverty-stricken “schemes.” The children’s alcoholic mother leaves them periodically for a married man with children of his own. The astonishing sophomore effort from Booker Prize winner Stuart ( Shuggie Bain) details a teen’s hard life in north Glasgow in the post-Thatcher years. ![]()
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