Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Juno Loves Legs

I'm extremely conflicted as to how I feel about this one. I wanted to love this so bad but just.. didn't. I think somewhere along the way, I was under the assumption that this book was going to focus on the friendship between the two main characters but the majority of the story is about just about Juno. I prefer character driven stories over plot driven ones, and though this is a character driven story, I felt as if the insight into both Juno and Legs's characters was very bare bones and somewhat surface level. A lot of things happen in this book, but I didn't particularly feel as if I knew either Juno or Legs on a deeper level, rather I was just able to empathize with their stories. There is some very beautiful writing throughout which made the reading worthwhile, however, I did not enjoy the pacing and I'm generally not the biggest fan of time jumps. Oddly, I felt as if Legs was a relatively small part of this book which I'm not sure was the intention. It didn't feel as if the author ever fully demonstrated why Juno and Legs cared for each other as much as they did which greatly hindered my interest in the story. Per usual, I had too high of expectations, but would still definitely recommend this book to those who enjoy Irish literature.

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travelseatsreads's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Juno Love Legs is a coming of age story which follows a young adolescent girl, Juno, as she painfully navigates who she is and who she will soon become. Alongside Juno, we also get to see the story of Legs, her faithful childhood friend, as their friendship blossoms into a stunning display of platonic love. Set in bleak and sorrowful Dublin during the 80s, the book details the many struggles they face but also the many amazing experiences they have along the way.

While set in those bleak and poverty stricken streets of 1980s Dublin and reeking of the stench of the Catholic Church and its vice-like grip, the book somehow manages to maintain an air of hope and beauty that you cannot resist smiling at. This is carried by a stream of beautiful and colourful characters alongside some simply stunning prose.

Geary has woven an evocative, vivid and immersive telling of the stories of those kids who just don’t fit in, who are made of pure grit and stubbornness that somehow manage to dig themselves from the dirt they were landed in to create something so much more.

I never cry at books, in fact I could probably count the number on one hand, but this left me devastated with more than a few tears. I implore you to read it but with the warning and promise that it will break your heart in the most stunning of ways.

"Even horrible people can have their hearts broken."

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katrinaamartin's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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serendipitysbooks's review

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Douglas Stuart summed this book up brilliantly. It broke my heart also and yet I never wanted it to end. Set in 1980s Dublin, Juno Loves Legs is the story of a beautiful friendship that develops between Juno and Legs when they are children and ensures throughout their teens. The beauty of their friendship contrasts with the bleakness of the rest of their lives which are blighted by poverty, by dysfunctional families, and by emotional and physical abuse at church and school, not to mention issues like homelessness and addiction which impact their teenage years. The story is narrated by Juno. She’s brash and unabashed, the sort of character who leaps off the page. Legs comes across as quieter, more of a mystery, and a little harder to get to know. But a careful reader can find plenty of clues that reveal his personality and details of his life. The way these two love each other, care for each other and support each other despite their own circumstance and limitations is truly beautiful. This is a book that gave me all the feelings including, and especially a deep seated rage towards Sister, Father and the Catholic Church more generally. Geary balances beauty and bleakness to great effect. If, like me, you enjoy having your heart crushed and broken into a million pieces, this is a book you won’t want to miss.

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giselley's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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reads_eats_explores's review

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challenging emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I’m prefacing this review with a plea, buy this book! Go get yourselves a copy right away. Juno Loves Legs deserves all the love.

In a nutshell, Juno Loves Legs is a highly emotive coming-of age-story centred on Juno and her best pal Sean, aka, Legs, as they grow up on a working class housing estate and then as they stumble through early adulthood in city centre Dublin.

Neither Juno nor Legs have the best start in life; they’re the kids more used to receiving a clatter than a hug at home and forever on the receiving end of the wrath of Sister or Father in school.

But together, they are fierce; they are brave. They can look beyond the shame of Juno’s useless alcoholic father and worn-down seamstress mother whose clients seldom pay and Legs’ absent father and rigid mother ready to send him away to another school to rid him of his ‘sinful’ ways.

Juno stands up for Legs against playground bullies, and he distracts the priest with misbehaviour to protect her from the beatings and mortification in the classroom, but when Legs goes too far, it results in the pair losing contact for a few years.

In this time, Juno spirals down into a depressive fug, and life goes from bad to worse. Until that is, she is rescued once again by Legs. Now, if you’re expecting fairytale endings, you’re in the wrong book - keep the tissues handy.

Narrator Juno takes up most of the emotional space with a troubled mix of good intentions, and self-destructiveness, all with a pervading sense of guilt.

Legs is harder to read because Juno knows only what he tells her, but generally, he remains charismatic and enigmatic until a rush of last-minute revelations are made.

All told in pitch perfect dialect, on realistic 1980s background of harsh poverty, homelessness, alcoholism, unnamed “plague” frightening gay Dubliners, this novel is almost unbearably grim, but that makes the occasional glimpses of genuine kindness Juno and Legs experience (mostly towards each other) all the more poignant.

These characters will stay with me for a very long time indeed. I wanted to reach them and hug them. 5⭐

A special shout out to all the wonderful librarians out there!

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