Juno Loves Legs

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It is about a young girl named Juno who is whip-smart and brave and the relationship she has with a bullied boy named Seán (who she has nicknamed “Legs”) who is, from the start, branded as different in his sexuality. 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 . The two separate for a number of years because of their shenanigans before finding each other again. Poignant to the nth degree; these two luckless souls give in to the magnetic pull of mutual exclusion to find a sense of place and peace in the company of the other.

Juno Loves Legs is a gorgeous, devastating ode to the sustaining power of friendship, as well as exquisitely atmospheric portrait of a city. She is found in the streets by Legs, who, as a young adult, is becoming something of a burgeoning artist. And although I DO much prefer this UK cover - that looks suspiciously like American actress Kristy McNichol on the cover, circa 1980!

Severed from their families by mutual agreement, in a new life littered with sordid squats and deep prejudice, transient figures and seedy bars, they rely on each other to survive. The book is also an ode to living in poverty of sorts — the life Juno has lived is not an easy one, and, in many ways, Juno Loves Legs can be read as a tragedy. As the teenagers move beyond the quiet cruelties of a Catholic education, and into an even darker and seemingly crueller world, against the odds their friendship endures. Juno loves to watch her mother sew and repair garments, longing to be allowed to use the Singer sewing machine. I immediately got sucked into the wonderful audiobook by Dreamscape Media and narrated by Alana Kerr Collins, who has a lovely, Northern Irish accent.

I settled in and performed my magic trick, putting one upturned hand out and I was invisible,” she says. Karl Geary’s sophomore novel flirts with and then darkly subverts the marriage plot, killing off the nuclear family in an attempt to remake it, with a difference.The characters are three-dimensional and sympathetic as they struggle to overcome the cruel circumstances of their lives . He brings a place and a time to life in a way that feels authentic, without apologising for its shortcomings but littering the story with glimmers of hope and connection. Together, they rekindle a platonic friendship — even though it is apparent that there’s something wrong with Legs’ health. 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”. Mike Maggio’s forthcoming novel, Woman in the Abbey , a gothic tale of love and betrayal, will be released by Vine Leaves Press in 2025.

Juno met Legs in school when she stood up for him as he was being bullied by a cruel nun and a priest. Een verhaal waarin ellende regelmatig de boventoon voert, maar dat door het zoeken naar licht in de duisternis en de liefde die weerklinkt zeker een aanrader is voor liefhebbers van indringende romans! He feels brave with her, she feels safe with him, and together they feel invincible, even if the world has other ideas. The characters are so real, so desperate to be loved, that the reader will want to reach through the pages and hold them. In one of the most moving sections, Juno finds herself sleeping rough and begging for money on a Dublin street, after walking out of the family home and being turned away by her estranged sister.I was astounded at the writing of this empathic character, of how he was created out of pure love, "even horrible people can have their hearts broken" (Geary 241). Juno en Seán – Legs – zitten bij elkaar in de klas op een streng katholieke school in de armste wijk van de stad, en wanneer Juno voor hem opkomt, is dat de start van een hechte, onvoorwaardelijke vriendschap. It’s not that often that you read a story of such pure platonic love - incidentally, my two favourite books so far this year have been just that (this one and We All Want Impossible Things). Tragic events separate the pair, but when they reunite, Legs protects and cares for the only person who ever loved him, even while Juno must learn the limits of their relationship and how to let go.

Although Juno Loves Legs is exquisitely written and the characters and their relationship are painfully beautiful, it felt almost overwhelmingly bleak. Een verhaal over vallen en opstaan, geheimen en ondanks je eigen ellende alle knelpunten in het leven van de ander willen oplossen.If this doesn't get a Booker nod itself, there is no justice - but it will certainly land as one of my top 3 reads of the year. She's loved him since their first encounter at school in Dublin, the time she fought the playground bullies for him. 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). Legs like Mungo from “Young Mungo” are beautiful, sensitive men who are victims of their circumstance, characters out of a Joyce, Hardy and DH Lawrence novel who yearn for bigger things, but somehow fate and the environment have a way of thwarting those desires.