Kristina's Reviews > Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It

Leg is a memoir by Greg Marshall about his relationship with his family, his coming to the realization that he is gay, and his... leg. Marshall has cerebral palsy, but what is surprising about his relationship with his condition is that he didn't KNOW he has CP until he was much older in life. His parents never said his diagnosis, so when people asked about his limp, he attributed it to other conditions (that are associated with CP). My favorite parts of this memoir were his relationships with his parents. They owned newspapers and his mother would often highlight Marshall's challenges and his poetry in her articles in these papers. His mother has cancer which is recurring and affects much of his relationship with her. His relationship with his father is very moving. My favorite chapter of the book is about the author's school trip to France where his father comes along as a chaperone. While illness is expected with his mother's condition, the family is thrown for a loop when his father is diagnosed with ALS and is dead within two years. Marshall's relationship with his four other siblings are not much of a focus of the book outside of his youngest sister Moe. Moe serves as another example of their parents not recognizing their disabilities. There is a LOT to mine in this book. I haven't even touched on his road to acceptance about his attraction to men and interesting romantic relationships he's had over his life. Because there is so much here, it can come across as a bit all over the place, and perhaps emphasis on one or two areas may have been more cohesive. Thank you to Abrams Press via NetGalley for the advance reader copy in exchange for honest review.