Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It by Greg Marshall

10 reviews

jourdanicus's review

funny reflective medium-paced

5.0

I just loved this book. Greg's honesty and sense of humor are so down to earth, and helps translate his life experience into something even more relatable. This book has something for everyone, even if you aren't disabled or gay, but especially so if you are.

The core thread of this story, that Greg has cerebral palsy but didn't find out his diagnosis until adulthood, is certainly worth being the primary appeal. At one point, Greg refers to himself as a "diagnostic orphan," which really resonated with me as someone who, in an opposite way, grew up very likely on the autism spectrum but *without* a diagnosis. This book has me reflecting on the concept of labels, and whether the label itself is disabling or the experience of having a disability is what's disabling, no matter what you call it.

Greg doesn't necessarily have all the answers, and that's fine. This is still a compelling and wonderfully narrated memoir about one man, his leg, and the quirky family that raised him.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Cancer, Medical content, and Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia and Ableism

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, Body shaming, and Gaslighting

sglance9's review

funny reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death of parent, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Death, and Medical content

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Addiction and Ableism

elizabethtrue's review

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Death of parent, and Cancer

applesodaperson's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective slow-paced

4.0

Something I have been thinking about recently is that holy cow, not everyone needs to write a book about themselves. Like probably half of the celebrity memoirs on the shelves right now are so completely redundant and unnecessary. But I am so glad that Greg Marshall wrote this book about his life. It was so good and talked a lot about really hard topics and struggles that he has had in his life. I would say this book has 2 main topics, which were Marshall's experiences with disability and with being gay. With the disability parts, I think it was super interesting, particularly hearing about the ways that it affected him specifically. It was so interesting that despite his mom having cancer, and his dad having ALS, they didn't tell Marshall what his disability actually was. They also seemed unable to admit that his younger sister has autism. 
The sections about his relationships were also very good. The part that hit me the most was about

his long term boyfriend who died of AIDS and didn't tell Marshall he even had it. So he's dealing with the conflicting feelings of grieving the death, but also being super angry that he never told him, and could have possibly infected him. That's just a really hard situation.

The section about him taking care of his dad was also really hard emotionally. Because ALS is so awful and such a slow decline. And Marshall was taking care of his dying father when he was in his early 20s, around the age that I am now. 
My favorite part of this book was all the references to Salt Lake City and mormonism. Even though he wasn't a part of the church, he grew up there, so he makes so many references that only someone from Utah would understand, so I loved all those little details.
Listened to on Libby.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual content, and Death

wogslandwriter's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

The audiobook is narrated by the author and Marshall does a great job. The book is poignant and self aware without losing genuine feeling. The book tells the story of Marshall's childhood and early adulthood, ending with his marriage in his 30's. The book follows the relative timeline of his life while also focusing each chapter on specific people or events that impacted his life. It is an organizational strategy that phenomenally highlights the emotional impact of people and events on Marshall's life. Marshall does not shy away from talking about his privileged background but it also isn't the focus of the story. It is a beautifully written book about family, disability and queerness, but the overall thesis that people are what make up an individual is never lost in the weeds.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Eating disorder, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Fatphobia, and Body shaming

Minor: Alcohol and Animal cruelty

ruthie_the_librarian's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

2.0

2/3 stars - there were things I liked, and things I didn't like.  It's really graphic sexually, which is fine if that's what you're there for, but honestly it felt like a fifteen year old boy writing, not a grown man, and those parts felt awkward and exhausting to read.
I much preferred the parts about his family, even if I was somewhat incredulous reading some events.  Did his parents really gaslight him for all those many, many years about what was wrong with his leg?  Also, if he was so clever (going to a good Uni etc.) how did he never look up what was going on with his body?  I felt like his mum was both terrifying and amazing, and it would be interesting to have her take on what she did as a parent.
You can definitely feel that the book has come from individual essays - there's sometimes repetition, the timeline is off, and the whole book didn't quite hang together for me.  But there were some very moving moments (his dad...) and some very funny moments.
In a few places, I felt there was a lack of acknowledgement of the immense privilege he'd had.  I know that sounds weird because he'd grown up with a disability, and he's gay, and one parent died from ALS and the other has had cancer for forever...but still, there was a lot of money floating around, a lot of experiences in his life that he just seemed to take for granted, but not much self awareness around that.
So, a mixed bag with this...lots of it I found very easy to read, and some of it was almost impossible to get through, but it did move me.  I was glad he was happy at the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Terminal illness, and Sexual content

imstephtacular's review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Death of parent, Cancer, Medical trauma, Sexual content, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Cursing, Bullying, Homophobia, Addiction, Drug use, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Death, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Alcohol

Minor: Fatphobia, Blood, Classism, Excrement, Pregnancy, Racism, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Lesbophobia, and Violence

eusayart's review

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted sad medium-paced

3.5

Funny yet serious,  blunt talk about disabilities and being homosexual in a small town.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

sebrittainclark's review

dark funny sad medium-paced

3.5

This is a memoir about being gay and disabled (although not knowing his actual cerebral palsy diagnosis until his 30s) and having a mother with cancer and a father with ALS. I thought the author did a great job as the narrator on the audiobook, and despite talking about a lot of deeply difficult and dark topics, the author kept a fairly light tone throughout the book.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical content, Sexual content, and Medical trauma

amobrien's review

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

4.0

Leg is a fantastic memoir on sexuality, disability, and family. For a book filled with heartbreak and loss, there's so much humor and joy and love. I loved reading about Greg Marshall's life, especially when it came to his relationship with his family.

Thank you Netgalley for providing a digital ARC.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Ableism, Cancer, and Chronic illness

Minor: Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Addiction, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Lesbophobia, and Death