Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Juno Loves Legs by Karl Geary

10 reviews

hkrobock's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Outing, and Alcohol

ladystardust1979's review against another edition

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Sexual assault and Car accident

junoversum's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Wie viel Wärme in einem Roman, in dem viel Schreckliches passiert, stecken kann. Ich glaube ich habe noch nie so schlichte und schöne Worte über Liebe, Fürsorge und Zugehörigkeit gelesen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Death

emboof's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

5.0

beautifully heart-wrenching. cried multiple time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Sexual assault

gabbyj's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Dementia, and Death of parent

carolinajane's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Classism

sawshiwen's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Rape, and Sexual assault

dizzzybrook's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-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

3.0

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Classism

pomoevareads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.5

I was given an opportunity by the publisher to read this one prior to publication date but had an overcrowded reading schedule at the time and didn’t get to it. On a recent trip to Powell’s Books in Portland I made sure to buy a new copy to read. 

Reminiscent of Young Mungo, Juno Loves Legs brings the reader to the Irish Catholic landscape of the 1980s. Juno, whose mother is an underpaid seamstress and whose father is an alcoholic mechanic, befriends a bullied boy named Sean at school. As preteens, Juno nicknames her friend Legs and the pair of misfits stand up for each other on numerous occasions at school when the nuns or priest are cruel. After an incident results in Legs leaving the community, Juno writes but doesn’t send letters to her best friend. 

Written in three parts, Juno Loves Legs follows Juno as she navigates life with an unstable home life and later on her own. The story focusses on the pair as they come together again and on the challenges thrown at them individually and together. 

The raw tenderness in this friendship was beautiful and I experienced much sadness for the hardships and discrimination against them. Geary has written characters that will crystallize themselves into your memory. As awful and truly disgusting as John Jr. was and as gracious and generous Missus H the librarian was, all of the characters rose from the page for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Homophobia and Death of parent

Minor: Terminal illness

reads_eats_explores's review

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Pregnancy