A review by pomoevareads
Juno Loves Legs by Karl Geary

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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