It certainly doesn't 'ruin' the book if you know about it beforehand - but I didn't see it coming till quite late in the game, so it came as a pleasant surprise.

If you are in the mood for a novel that will rip your heart out and slap you repeatedly in the face with it, have I got a recommendation for you . This skirts a fine line between touching and misery fest particularly early on but sticking with it pays dividends as the poignancy of the relationship develops into early adulthood. Filled with loss and longing, it is by turns brutal and tender, and in the end, utterly devastating.She's loved him since their first encounter at school in Dublin, the time she fought the playground bullies for him. It feels derivative to make comments like ‘shades of Shuggie Bain’, and unfair to Geary who I think is really doing his own thing here.

His widely acclaimed debut Montpelier Parade was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and for Newcomer of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. My bookclub tagline for this read was “bleakness” and that is a spot on description for the essential vibe of this novel. Suffice it to say that it covers about a dozen years of a very special, though not romantic, relationship between two bruised and broken youngsters in 1980's Dublin- and it WILL break your heart. This book is memorable and deeply touching, as two misfits find each other through troubled times and know real love in a very unloving and tough world.When a reader directed me to Karl Geary’s new novel, “Juno Loves Legs,” I couldn’t resist delving beneath its cover(s). A few weeks ago in our free Book Club newsletter, I asked for examples of curious differences between U.

To be fair, the characters are sometimes unlikeable and the f- and c-words get bandied about a lot, even by youths — who also smoke like chimneys just to get through what they’re going through. While squatting in a council flat, Juno watches Legs shuffle down to the little red phone box outside, wearing his dead gran’s pink housecoat and a silly hat, with a pocket full of 10p pieces, trying to sort out their next meal, the next chapter of their lives. Even though Geary started out as an actor, he is a born and gifted storyteller, and he's now giving Donal Ryan (who also provided a rave review) a run for his money as my favorite contemporary Irish author.This story takes place in Dublin, under the tutelage of Catholic priests and nuns - extremely harsh and unkind. 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. Thus, this is a novel that is the sort of thing that you’re either going to find fault with or probably just adore despite its deficiencies. The two separate for a number of years because of their shenanigans before finding each other again.

Het verhaal wordt voornamelijk verteld vanuit het perspectief van Juno, en terwijl kleine scènes uit haar leven laten zien hoe ze opgroeit in een harde omgeving, hoe haar weinig kansen en mogelijkheden worden geboden om op te klimmen, merk je dat ze dolgraag gezien en geaccepteerd wil worden. A poignant portrait of two people caught in poverty and an intolerant society, this one will break your heart. This is a tale of what it’s like to live in the middle of a figurative warzone, with no respite to the suffering a person must endure. I do appreciate how the author showed readers two individuals who didn't quite fit in yet fit so perfectly for each other. It is less about place and time ( maybe to its detriment ) than about the building of an unshakable bond between two outsiders that have no one else on their side.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. Geary often finds poetry in Juno’s plainspoken narration, whether in lucid reflections on the brutality at the school or in Juno’s openhearted wonder at Dublin . 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. 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. Juno and Legs meet at a school where (as usual) the nuns are awful old tyrants and the priests are no better.