Available:*
Material Type | Library | Call Number | Item Barcode | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book | Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library | FICTION GEARY | 31330009322813 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Billerica Public Library | FICTION/GEARY | 33934004627205 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Chelmsford Public Library | FIC/GEARY | 31480011662837 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Dracut - Moses Greeley Parker Memorial Library | FIC/GEARY | 31482003029538 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Hamilton-Wenham Public Library | FIC GEARY | 30470002092897 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Haverhill Public Library | FIC/GEARY K | 31479007164162 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Ipswich Public Library | FIC GEARY, KARL | 32122003013442 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Lawrence Public Library | FIC GEA | 31549005014393 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Manchester-by-the-Sea Public Library | FIC GEA | 32124002132546 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Methuen - Nevins Memorial Library | FIC GEA | 31548003478022 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Newburyport Public Library | FIC GEARY K | 32128004171204 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... North Andover - Stevens Memorial Library | F GEARY | 31478003798684 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Tewksbury Public Library | FICTION GEARY | 32132003384446 | Searching... Unknown |
| Book | Searching... Westford - J.V. Fletcher Library | F GEARY | 31990005250092 | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
For readers of Sally Rooney and fans of Shuggie Bain and Just Kids , Juno Loves Legs is the epic and heartbreaking story of a young friendship set in working-class Dublin in the 1980s
Juno Loves Legs is the story of two teens labeled as delinquents. Juno and "Legs" grow up on the same housing estate in Dublin, where spirited, intelligent Juno is ostracized for her poverty and Legs is persecuted for his sexuality; they find safety only in each other.
Set against the backdrop of Dublin in the 1980s, a place of political, social and religious change, the friends yearn for an unbound life and together they begin to fight to take up the space of who they truly are. As their defiance reverberates through their lives, the children are further alienated from their surrounding society through acts of bravery and cowardice, both their own and others'. Finding themselves as outsiders, they are feared, coveted and watched, but rarely truly seen.
Told through the eyes of Juno, we see the pair begin to navigate the political and oftentimes confusing adult world with honesty and intuition. A country emerging from a dark Catholicism into the wider world of possibilities. Who is invited into modernity and gentrification and who is left behind?
Caught between the rich depth of her intellect and the harsh reality of her life, we follow Juno as she begins to understand how divergent a life lived and a life thought can be.
Juno Loves Legs shows the frustration of feeling trapped in a life that is not yours and the ability of friendship to lift us out of our experiences and into a truer version of ourselves. It is a novel that reminds us that kindness, bravery, and love appear in places where they are not always expected and in forms not usually recognised, but with a potency that cannot be ignored.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Geary's heartbreaking latest (after Montpelier Parade) follows a pair of childhood friends as they age out of a hardscrabble Irish housing estate. Violence and religion define the constrained lives of Juno and her friend, Seán (nicknamed Legs), in the 1980s. They unite against abuse from nuns, priests, and playmates at their primary school where, as Juno narrates, "all the meanness in the world begins with a kind voice." After they act out by dumping cement down toilets, a subsequent act of vengeance on an abusive priest at their school sends Legs to juvenile detention until he's 18. Then, following a devastating loss in Juno's family, she drops out of secondary school and lives rough in Dublin. Her reunion with a sickly Legs after he's released is bittersweet, and he confesses the truth behind the incident that sent him to detention. Geary often finds poetry in Juno's plainspoken narration, whether in lucid reflections on the brutality at the school or in Juno's openhearted wonder at Dublin, where she discovers "the world was another, a vast other." The blistering dialogue, too, captures the characters' hard-won wisdom ("see everything, believe nothing, and definitely, don't ever lend money," a thrift store proprietor tells Juno). This is one to savor. (Apr.)
Kirkus Review
A twisted coming-of age-story concerning two young outsiders unable and unwilling to fit into the narrow confines of their small Irish village or, later, into more sophisticated Dublin. Geary uses gorgeous prose, full of Irish lilt and hard-edged slang, to describe bleak childhoods as harsh as any found in a Dickens novel. When 12-year-old Juno first meets Legs, their crises at home and school veer close to clichés about the downtrodden: There are Juno's useless alcoholic father and worn-down seamstress mother whose clients seldom pay; Legs' absent father and rigid mother ready to send him to a "special" school to cure him of his sinful artistic effeminacy; hostile classmates who shun Juno for her poverty and Legs for his otherness; the priest in charge of the school who beats and humiliates them. Juno and Legs establish their bond after she stands up for him against playground bullies and he distracts the priest with misbehavior to protect her from mortification in the classroom. Narrator Juno takes up most of the emotional space here, showing in detail her troubled mix of good intentions, self-destructive combativeness, and constant sense of guilt. Juno's longings tend to erupt in spur-of-the-moment acts--breaking a neighbor's flowerpot, punching someone's nose, taking her first drink--that make her life worse. Seen only through Juno's eyes, Legs is harder to read because Juno knows only what he tells her. Then an explosion of Legs' rage against the priest leads to years of forced separation from Juno. Even when they reconnect in Dublin, where Legs, now a member of the artistic demimonde, takes in Juno, who is on the skids, he remains enigmatic until a rush of last-minute revelations. Inescapable poverty, homelessness, alcoholism, the unnamed "plague" frightening gay Dubliners in the 1980s--much of the novel is almost unbearably grim, making the occasional glimpses of real kindness Juno and Legs experience that much more poignant. An evocative, effective dive into dark if too familiar waters. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Childhood friends face poverty and adversity in Geary's (Montpelier Parade, 2017) latest, a grim and affecting coming-of-age novel. Juno is fighting battles: with her mam, whom she loves but who is extremely strict; with the nuns and priest at her school who enact violence and degradation as punishment; and with herself, as her righteous anger backfires time and again. Her only friend is Seán, nicknamed Legs, and the two bond over their shared whippings at school, each working to protect the other. After a loss in her family, and Legs being sent to juvenile detention for an act of vengeance, Juno drops out of school and begins drinking with her alcoholic father. Slipping into homelessness, Juno lives hard until Legs discovers her and takes her in. But Legs has his own secrets that will turn their reunion to heartbreak. At times the misery feels overwhelming here, but Geary infuses just enough fleeting moments of joy. Likewise, Juno's combination of vulnerability and hard edges lends her a tender toughness that makes it impossible to turn away. Geary's writing is wonderfully revealing and beautiful, particularly when describing characters' clothing, which is often used to show or hide their emotions. Altogether achingly memorable.
Library Journal Review
A coming-of-age tale set in 1980s Dublin, Geary's second novel (following his debut, Montpelier Parade) revolves around two outcasts (the titular Juno and Legs) who form a friendship of necessity at their Catholic school, where they suffer abuse from both their fellow students and the parochial leaders. The narrative is first-person from Juno's perspective as she navigates adolescence and extreme poverty, often completely alone, often experiencing severe trauma. Besides class, religion, and companionship, queerness is a theme explored toward the end of the text, but it's only alluded to so vaguely beforehand that it almost feels like an afterthought. Geary uses dialect in a way that immerses readers in the Irish setting without being distracting or overwhelming, and the characters are three-dimensional and sympathetic as they struggle to overcome the cruel circumstances of their lives. The novel is straightforward and clearly divides Juno's life into distinct periods. It is not plot-driven, however, instead using a "slice-of-life" approach to more thoroughly examine the characters. VERDICT Might appeal to readers who enjoy bleak, atmospheric, character-driven novels, and would be an appropriate addition to any fiction collection.--Heather Sheahan