Juno Loves Legs

Product Information

It's only too bad Saoirse Ronan is a bit long in the tooth now to pass as a 12-year-old, as she'd have been perfect casting for Juno, should it ever be adapted to film (although since the character ages to around 24, they'd probably have to split the role and Ms. That all changes one day when Legs, struggling to come to terms with his homosexuality, is harassed by the parish priest because of his sexual inclinations. Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I lay there as long as I could, before shooting up and shaking myself and running through the trees, out onto the main road, breathless towards the library”.

Juno and Legs meet at a school where (as usual) the nuns are awful old tyrants and the priests are no better. This is a volume about resilience and getting through tough times in the best way possible, and perhaps with a bit of craftiness. The Singer sewing machine her mam was forced to pawn before her untimely death becomes a symbol that beckons Juno toward a future of possibilities. How a 50-year-old man can seemingly effortlessly, and in beautifully rendered prose, capture the voice of a 12-year-old girl is nothing less than astounding. After losing her mother to a bus accident, Juno finds herself witnessing Legs committing a crime against Father that would change their friendship forever.The dialogue has a syncopated rhythm to it that I found a little jarring at times but I loved the book so much I just didn’t dwell on it.

I did say I’d been avoiding Irish novels for a few years but so pleased to have found this book with thanks to Bookclub . She is often at odds at Catholic school with cruel Sister for a teacher, and the sadistic Father who often take their repression and religious fervor by violently abusing and projecting their feelings on Juno (she’s impoverished) and of course, Juno’s classmate, the beautiful Sean, (aka Legs). A poignant portrait of two people caught in poverty and an intolerant society, this one will break your heart. Juno Loves Legs is the story of that friendship, in its many incarnations, as seen through the eyes of Juno.

I've just finished reading Juno Loves Legs (to be published April 18, 2023) and am reminded that books, like moments in time, meet us and then pass away. An exquisite, haunting bildungsroman of a novel, “Juno Loves Legs” certainly lives up to the praises of Gabriel Byrne and Douglas Stuart, who wrote the immortal books, Shuggie Bain and Young Mungo.

To be fair, the characters are sometimes unlikeable and the f- and c-words get bandied about a lot, even by youths — who also smoke like chimneys just to get through what they’re going through. Thus, this is a novel that is the sort of thing that you’re either going to find fault with or probably just adore despite its deficiencies. Legs is her pal, a young lad who Juno steps in to defend at school when he is being bullied and humiliated by a nun and priest. However, the book can be unrelentingly bleak at times, and it can be a bit of a chore to parse given all of the slang that’s used.If you’re really lucky, the prose itself may flow in a way that’s so immersive, you hardly notice you’re reading because you’ve been fully transported into its fictional world.

A few weeks ago in our free Book Club newsletter, I asked for examples of curious differences between U.

Those types of individuals may find this to be a treat, if, I suppose, those 12-year-old cigarette addicts are not a turnoff. If you like British fiction of a high caliber, and something that might be a tad bit experimental, then you’re probably going to enjoy this work of art. As the story goes, and at the risk of giving away too much (which one has to do because the book’s “plot” is rather unconventional), Juno is introduced as a 12-year-old whose life is marred by poverty. Undeniably bleak but with rays of light and hope from human kindness, this book is an emotional investment, but it's worth it. But because as Sean comes of age as Legs, his effeminate, delicate beauty causes ire amongst those who are homophobic and repressed: especially Sister and Father who mock and hate him for no other reason than out of their own fear and ignorance, “His narrow shoulders shook then, though there was no sound, as if it had been turned down, the way you could with the news if you didn’t like what was being said” (Geary 249).