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70
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
44/100Critics
96/100Scholars
Author:
Greg Marshall
Publisher:
Harry N. Abrams
Date:
June 13, 2023
A humorous and poignant memoir grappling with family, disability, and coming of age in two closetsâas a gay man and as a man living with cerebral palsy.
What The Reviewers Say
Marshall’s book, in staying so firmly focused on his specific experience, offers a different kind of solidarity. Though I don’t have cerebral palsy, I cringed, gasped, and smiled in recognition of some of Marshall’s childhood experiences.
It feels weird to say that Leg is hilarious, but it’s true. The exploits of the Marshalls are those of a family that refuses to be buried by hardship and instead develops a great sense of humor.
Hoo boy, Leg is the kind of book that makes you hyperventilate. On many, very many pages, there’s boisterous, Saturday-morning-cartoon-like, going-in-five-different-directions chaos that might be sibling-based, it might be parental, deeply personal, humorous, relational, or sexual – and on that note, hoo boy, there are some wildly messy and explicit pages to find here. Author Greg Marshall writes candidly about his sex life, doors wide open, sometimes literally. Ah, but he also writes about the kind of love that’s wrapped in a scrap of fleece and handled carefully, the kind that feels like it might blow away if you’re not careful. That’s a delicate thing in the midst of a madcap tale of a limb and the gay man attached to it, and it’s sneaky, too: you’ll be looking every-which-way at Marshall’s life and boom! Tears. Give yourself some time with this book, and breathe deep. Most readers will find it chaotic but thoroughly enjoyable for beach read, airport, or a staycation. Don’t skip Leg or you’ll kick yourself..
As it ponders the question of whether knowing the truth about his limp early on would have made a difference in Marshall’s life, the book also reveals how stigmas around living with disabilities have evolved in tandem with hopeful medical strides. It is marked by humor; family bonds form its inspirational core.
