Details:
- author: Karl Geary
- full title: Juno Loves Legs
- narrator: Alana Kerr Collins
- genre: literary fiction
- topics: #ireland, #lgbt
- publisher: Dreamscape Media
- publish date: 18 Apr 2023
- timing: 8:23:00
My Rating of the Audiobook:
- content: 💙💙💙💙💙
- narration: 💙💙💙💙💙
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| Goodreads |
Excerpt from the Book:
She called Seán McGuire to the front of the class and told him to stand and face us. He was a blond boy, rail thin and tall for his age. His name was spoken and he was caught in a state of disbelief, blinking into the classroom. He stood out of his chair and I thought about those animals off the telly, still wet from their mothers' tummy, unsure of their own narrow hind legs, unsure they won't buckle at that first step. He walked slowly, one hand at his mouth, biting at the knuckle of his wet thumb.
'Seán here decided not to do his homework. Isn't that right, Seán? You're too good for all that, too good for us.' Seán's face reddened and his eyes looked over the class without seeing at all. Of all the children Sister hated, it was Seán she hated most.
'Hasn't Seán a pretty face?' Sister says. 'The face of a lovely girl, hasn't he?' And she gave a tiny laugh, and the cheer in her voice encouraged the class to laugh, only a small laugh at first, then, feeling it safe, more.
'A little angel face. Will we put Seán on the top of the tree come Christmas?'
The colour deepened in Seán's face.
My Thoughts:
Juno and »Legs« are teenagers in Dublin in the 1980s. They try to defy Sister's and Father's bullying in school and are labeled as delinquents. But there is so much more to their story. After an event that separates them, they later unite again, and their bond is still strong.
Juno Loves Legs is a beautiful and sad coming-of-age story about platonic love. But even though the story is dark, you can sense some sparks of hope and optimism. I loved it. Well deserved 5 stars.
The narration by Alana Kerr Collins is perfect, and I enjoyed the Irish accent. She made this experience even better.
About the Author:
Before making his literary debut in 2017 with Montpelier Parade, Irish-born novelist Karl Geary spent more than two decades acting and screenwriting, with credits including Coney Island Baby (starring his wife-to-be, Breaking Bad’s Laura Fraser), The Burrowers and an episode of Sex and the City. (Just don’t ask him about his shirtless appearance in Madonna’s 1992 coffee-table tome, Sex.) Now 50, he’s back with a second book, Juno Loves Legs, a piercing platonic love story whose misfit protagonists careen into young adulthood in 1980s Dublin, where he himself grew up. (from The Guardian article)
About the Narrator:
Alana Kerr Collins was born and raised in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and has been acting and singing from an early age. She was a member of the National Youth Theatre (NYT), National Youth Music Theatre (NYMT), Youth Music Theatre UK (YMT: UK) and was the first young People's Representative for Music Theatre 4 Youth (MT4Uth). She is an Audie Award and AudioFile Earphones Award winning audiobook narrator with over 90 titles for major publishers under her belt.
