Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

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

11 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

mirandaleighhhh's review

emotional funny lighthearted sad medium-paced

3.0

Given Greg Marshall's life experiences, I totally understand the dark humor that was necessary for his family dynamic. There was a lot in here that made me chuckle, and a few portions that made me tear. 

However, there were things that made me uncomfortable while listening. I could have done without (or with fewer specifics) the discovery of the back massager, and there was more penis talk than I think was necessary for his story to be told. It didn't add but rather took away from what was going on, and I didn't find these portions as humorous. I also think that he could have adjusted the way he talked about his sister's autism to be more conscientious of the time and possible readers.

At the end of the day, it's his story, and wow Greg has experienced more pain than has ever touched my personal life. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, Terminal illness, Medical trauma, and Homophobia

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

thelivermorebulb's review against another edition

emotional funny sad medium-paced

2.5

Read this for a book club, not a big memoir person otherwise so I'm sure that affects my answer. I feel weird leaving a review of someone's life story, but he did make it into a book. 

Overall, I feel meh. The book was funny, and I enjoyed that, but in the end I just didn't like the author all that much. I felt like he set up a lot of potentials in the beginning, promising growth and interesting stories, and that largely got glossed over. 

And of course this isn't his fault, but it was just a downer for me. It was a rough read, hard to stomach at times, and I didn't come away feeling like I had gained much. 

As a side note, I was appalled when he learned from his sister with her psychology degree that aspergers was an outdated and incorrect term and continued to use it, and laughed with a boyfriend about it. Seeing myself in his sister and that young boy so alike her and then seeing how he couldn't stand that they communicated differently was awful. That he felt like they needed fixing. and even when he seemed to change that stance, he really didn't. 

Even at the end hes still so worried about being normal! 

But overall the book was really funny, mostly easy to follow, and had a few great quotes and insights. I loved the bit about how its unfair that gay people become expected to leave their homes and families to move to more accepting areas. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death of parent, and Cancer

Moderate: Homophobia

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

eslsilver's review

emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia and Vomit

judereadsalot's review against another edition

funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Ableism, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Homophobia, Cancer, Outing, Medical trauma, Grief, and Death