Juno Loves Legs

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Thank God there were a few "thems" that offered islands of kindness along the way; a little sun, a bit of water to parched foliage, some fertilizing love; those who could see past the outside thorns to the delicacy beneath. Thanks to NetGalley, Dreamscape Publishing, and the author, Geary, for this advanced copy, which I wholeheartedly loved and will be pondering long after my next read. 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.

I lay under the tree and carefully arranged the flowers on my chest, and stayed in the grass for the longest time. Filled with loss and longing, it is by turns brutal and tender, and in the end, utterly devastating. 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”. Her only friend and ally is ‘Legs,’ a loner ostracized by the Sister for his beauty and verbally abused by the Father for his sexual orientation. Taking this coming-of-age journey with these two hapless beings was like putting my fingers into a vise one by one.

After losing her mother to a bus accident, Juno finds herself witnessing Legs committing a crime against Father that would change their friendship forever. Depressed by poverty and social isolation, Juno experiences moments of peace by burying herself in the woods with flowers and pretending to be dead. Juno attends Catholic school, typical for Dubliners, where the nuns and priests use humiliation and physical punishment to discipline their charges, punishment that has no effect on the schoolyard bullies who taunt Juno and another equally beleaguered student, Seán.

This story takes place in Dublin, under the tutelage of Catholic priests and nuns - extremely harsh and unkind.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.