Mungo is another character I need to add to my repository of sweet, pure, wholeheartedly-amazing characters who I'll cherish forever. He was the pinnacle of light in the drab, hateful setting of Glasgow, and it was rewarding to see all the lives he touched during his adolescent battle of choosing between malice and good intent. I've read Shuggie Bain before (also by the same author and also with many of the same parallels as Young Mungo), but even with the reoccurring themes, this book somehow still felt fresh and unpredictable to me. I loved Mungo's unwavering decisions to be a good person despite the many circumstances tugging him towards choosing a darker path (a common pattern that I realize now I really enjoy reading). Although Jodie recognized a flaw in this devotion, specifically towards his inability to ever leave his alcoholic, parasitic mother, I was surprised to see how little we encountered this mother-son relationship. Mungo definitely possesses more kindness towards his Mo-Maw than his siblings, but he seemed to have moved on from her pretty seamlessly after falling in love with his neighbor, James. I thought this made Mungo's triumph of finally choosing himself in the end to be a little underwhelming, but I'm happy for him nonetheless. I also read on the edge of my seat during the chapters that covered Mungo's forced fishing trip with the two pedophiles, which was a surprisingly gripping storyline to follow along with, even if all I wanted was to go back to reading about James and Mungo's safe haven of warmth and love. Overall, the book was a good balance of anxiety and mundanity -- the perfect backdrop to follow the growth of Young Mungo.