No one manages to make the specific as universal as Greg Marshall. Sharply observed with prose that explodes into your stomach, Leg captures a life of victories and struggles that never once tip into victimhood while showcasing a spirit like no other.
Honestly, I don’t know how to describe Greg Marshall’s Leg —a strange, smutty, hilarious, beautiful, compassionate, provoking, big-hearted, sharp-tongued, original, brilliant memoir. It’s about a very particular coming-of-age that will nevertheless remind readers of what it is to be young and to want everything. Marshall’s Leg is sui generis. I hated to see it end.
National Book Award finalist and author of The Her ELIZABETH McCRACKEN
"[A] witty memoir . . . Marshall presents readers with an insightful story of identity and complex family dynamics.
10 Best Memoirs of 2023 USA TODAY
Leg is a laugh-out-loud funny memoir that will hit you squarely in the heart and leave you with tears in your eyes. Tears of joy and tears of heartache, sure—but most of all tears of gratitude for this incredible tale of marvelous resilience, tremendous love, a larger-than-life family, and boner pills. Greg Marshall is one helluva storyteller, taking hilarity and emotional resonance and putting them in a paint mixer set to high until he creates an astonishingly bright, bold, and beautiful new color that is uniquely his own.
Leg is intimate (and I mean that in all ways), insightful, and often laugh-out-loud funny.
NPR's "Weekend Edition" SCOTT SIMON
Leg is intimate (and I mean that in all ways), insightful, and often laugh-out-loud funny.”—SCOTT SIMON, NPR's "Weekend Edition" 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 . . . Leg never slows in its energy, hope and warmth.”—WASHINGTON POST PEOPLE MAGAZINE Leg is probably the most profound and funniest memoir you'll ever read . . . The book is an entertaining and enlightening chronicle of Marshall’s life so far, including his discovery when he was almost 30 that he had cerebral palsy since birth, not ‘tight tendons’ like his parents told him . . . Marshall has pulled off the seemingly impossible. He’s written a memoir that is poignant and hilarious.”—WISCONSIN PUBLIC RADIO USA TODAY, 10 Best Memoirs of 2023 ESQUIRE HUFFINGTON POST BOOKS WASHINGTON POST, 10 Noteworthy books for June BUZZFEED, Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Book of 2023 Leg made me do both. . . [Marshall's] writing brings to mind early David Sedaris, with its bitingly funny caricatures and descriptions, bathed in blistering commentary, deep-seated opinions, wit, intellect and, above all else, fierce family love.”—BOOKPAGE, Starred Review
“Marshall traces his experience coming out of two closets—first as gay, and much later, as having cerebral palsy—in this comedic memoir.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY KIRKUS REVIEWS LITHUB, Most Anticipated Books of 2023 BUSTLE Leg does what good non-fiction does best: it finds what’s universal in the personal, the weird and the unique. Animated by the author’s hilarious and, at times, gut-wrenching honesty, Leg is ultimately a story about resilience and how we care for ourselves and the people we love.” —GAY TIMES UK Leg is a laugh-out-loud funny memoir that will hit you squarely in the heart and leave you with tears in your eyes. Tears of joy and tears of heartache, sure—but most of all tears of gratitude for this incredible tale of marvelous resilience, tremendous love, a larger-than-life family, and boner pills. Greg Marshall is one helluva storyteller, taking hilarity and emotional resonance and putting them in a paint mixer set to high until he creates an astonishingly bright, bold, and beautiful new color that is uniquely his own.” —ISAAC FITZGERALD, New York Times bestselling author of Dirtbag, Massachusetts Leg —a strange, smutty, hilarious, beautiful, compassionate, provoking, big-hearted, sharp-tongued, original, brilliant memoir. It’s about a very particular coming-of-age that will nevertheless remind readers of what it is to be young and to want everything. Marshall’s Leg is sui generis. I hated to see it end.”—ELIZABETH McCRACKEN, National Book Award finalist and author of The Hero of This Book Leg has all the ingredients of an addictive memoir. But what separates this book from the pack is Marshall’s rich and rare perspective navigating the world as a queer disabled person. Marshall delves into his unique life experiences to illustrate the all-too-relatable struggle to be your authentic self and he does it with unflinching honesty. He's one of the most exciting new voices in non-fiction. I could get lost in his brilliant brain forever.”—RYAN O’CONNELL, author of Just by Looking at Him Leg than I did about Marshall.”—ALEXANDER CHEE, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel Leg is a generous gift to readers. Yes, it is a raw, brutally honest, and compassionate chronicle of discovery (both of the self and the surrounding world) but it is also one of the funniest books I've ever read."—CHLOÉ COOPER JONES, author of Easy Beauty, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize Leg is the rare witty, tender, ebullient, wry, and raunchy memoir. Marshall is a natural storyteller, both disarmingly vulnerable and wickedly funny, and Leg is a beautiful, necessary book.”—LAUREN HOUGH, New York Times bestselling author of Leaving Isn't the Hardest Thing Leg captures a life of victories and struggles that never once tip into victimhood while showcasing a spirit like no other.”—BEN PHILIPPE, Author of Sure, I'll Be Your Black Friend
[A] riotously funny book that will steal your heart from the very first page. . . Rare is the book that makes me both laugh out loud and shed actual tears, but Leg made me do both. . . [Marshall's] writing brings to mind early David Sedaris, with its bitingly funny caricatures and descriptions, bathed in blistering commentary, deep-seated opinions, wit, intellect and, above all else, fierce family love.
Leg does what good non-fiction does best: it finds what’s universal in the personal, the weird and the unique. Animated by the author’s hilarious and, at times, gut-wrenching honesty, Leg is ultimately a story about resilience and how we care for ourselves and the people we love.”
Leg is probably the most profound and funniest memoir you'll ever read . . . The book is an entertaining and enlightening chronicle of Marshall’s life so far, including his discovery when he was almost 30 that he had cerebral palsy since birth, not ‘tight tendons’ like his parents told him . . . Marshall has pulled off the seemingly impossible. He’s written a memoir that is poignant and hilarious.
In this heartfelt debut memoir, Greg Marshall tells his story of coming out twice: first, as a gay man; second, as a man with cerebral palsy—a diagnosis that his family kept from him since birth. Throughout the book, Marshall unflinchingly looks at queerness, disability, illness, and family through the lens of his own queer, disabled, ill family with great aplomb. This marvelous book will stick with me for a very long time.
Smart and heartfelt … His honesty and clarity in writing about disability makes this debut one to watch.
Most Anticipated Books of 2023 LITHUB
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 . . . Abandoning the obfuscation with which many of us learn to talk about disability is hard, even when the only people we’re convincing with our vague wording are ourselves. But in Leg, Marshall makes a convincing argument that becoming more open is also a path out of shame. We need as many writers as possible who, like Marshall, are willing to say the silent part out loud.”
Leg is intimate (and I mean that in all ways), insightful, and often laugh-out-loud funny.
NPR's "Weekend Edition" Scott Simon
"Greg Marshall's Leg is a generous gift to readers. Yes, it is a raw, brutally honest, and compassionate chronicle of discovery (both of the self and the surrounding world) but it is also one of the funniest books I've ever read."
author of Easy Beauty CHLOÉ COOPER JONES
Greg Marshall’s moving memoir Leg is about finding strength in family support. . . marked by humor; family bonds form its inspirational core . . . a powerful memoir about overcoming obstacles with one’s sense of humor intact.”
Marshall’s debut book is laugh-out-loud-hilarious while simultaneously managing to be poignant and tender. At its core, it’s an examination of what it means to transform when there are parts of yourself you can’t change.”
2023-04-24
Essayist Marshall recounts his childhood in 1990s Utah as the middle sibling of five “in a rowdy family where someone was always almost dying or OD-ing.” His father managed a small community newspaper group, and his mother wrote an inspirational column called “Silver Linings” while enduring debilitating cancer treatments and years of remissions and recurrences. Marshall walked with a perpetual limp, documented in his mother’s columns, and he underwent numerous therapies, surgeries, and recovery bouts in wheelchairs. In an effort to somehow shield their son from ridicule, however, his parents kept his cerebral palsy diagnosis a secret throughout his childhood, calling his chronic limp a nagging case of “tight tendons.” In a zesty, forthright series of humorous, heartfelt, and often wincingly oddball anecdotes, Marshall shares how his hypochondriacal family “leaned into” all of “life’s curveballs.” Brotherly boyhood shenanigans involving a back massager introduced him to masturbation, and at the same time, he nurtured a simmering fondness for other boys and struggled with HIV/AIDS education (“Did everyone know I was gay? Was this lesson for me? These other assholes weren’t going to get AIDS, but I was”). In the second half, Marshall chronicles his coming out as a disabled gay man, acknowledging life with CP, and navigating the nuances of first impressions, intimacy, and forgiveness for his parents. Marshall was 30 when he accidentally confirmed his CP diagnosis after uncovering one of his mother’s columns exposing “the Watergate tapes of my childhood, revealing both crime and cover-up.” The author, who confesses that “my cerebral palsy has made me see my life, and my leg, with renewed appreciation,” displays a natural storytelling ability, and he writes with a good dose of self-effacing humor, exposing the murky consequences of secrets, even when they’re kept with the best intentions.
A sparkling portrait of personal discovery and a celebration of family, forgiveness, and thriving with a disability.
In the struggles of his body, his family, and his own exploration of his identities, Marshall finds a mirror and a prism for life in America now. This is a funny, smart, and loving memoir, and I learned perhaps more about myself reading Leg than I did about Marshall.
author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel ALEXANDER CHEE
Greg Marshall's Leg has all the ingredients of an addictive memoir. But what separates this book from the pack is Marshall’s rich and rare perspective navigating the world as a queer disabled person. Marshall delves into his unique life experiences to illustrate the all-too-relatable struggle to be your authentic self and he does it with unflinching honesty. He's one of the most exciting new voices in non-fiction. I could get lost in his brilliant brain forever.
author of Just by Looking at Him RYAN O’CONNELL
This hilarious and wholly unique memoir by Greg Marshall tackles many subjects: disability, family relationships, and coming out (twice). With signature wit and humor, Marshall takes material that could be morbid in the hands of a lesser writer, and dares his readers not to laugh. He knows he's had an unconventional life, but there's no self-pity here. Instead, he embraces the absurdity of it all and leans into it, making one hell of an entertaining book.”
Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Book of 2023 BUZZFEED
This highly awaited memoir isn’t your typical coming-of-age story. Instead, it’s a compassionate and humanizing gaze at what it’s like to be a queer and disabled person, told in Marshall’s original, addictive and acerbically witty voice. This story promises to be as funny as it is touching and insightful.”
A riotous new memoir . . . A hilarious yet loving account, this book has charm for days.
"Greg Marshall's Leg is a generous gift to readers. Yes, it is a raw, brutally honest, and compassionate chronicle of discovery (both of the self and the surrounding world) but it is also one of the funniest books I've ever read."
In this big-hearted, (literally) laugh-out-loud memoir, Marshall explores how it touched every other aspect of his life, from dealing with grief, to dating as a gay man, to making sense of it all through writing.”
Greg Marshall’s Leg is the rare witty, tender, ebullient, wry, and raunchy memoir. Marshall is a natural storyteller, both disarmingly vulnerable and wickedly funny, and Leg is a beautiful, necessary book.
New York Times bestselling author of Leaving Isn LAUREN HOUGH
Bracingly candid . . . With [his cerebral palsy] diagnosis came understanding, and a lifetime of resilience enabled [Marshall] to find the silver linings that allow him to live life on his own terms.
10 Noteworthy books for June WASHINGTON POST
A riotous new memoir . . . A hilarious yet loving account, this book has charm for days.
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 . . . Abandoning the obfuscation with which many of us learn to talk about disability is hard, even when the only people we’re convincing with our vague wording are ourselves. But in Leg, Marshall makes a convincing argument that becoming more open is also a path out of shame. We need as many writers as possible who, like Marshall, are willing to say the silent part out loud.”
Leg does what good non-fiction does best: it finds what’s universal in the personal, the weird and the unique. Animated by the author’s hilarious and, at times, gut-wrenching honesty, Leg is ultimately a story about resilience and how we care for ourselves and the people we love.”
‘[A] witty memoir . . . Marshall presents readers with an insightful story of identity and complex family dynamics.
10 Best Memoirs of 2023 USA Today
This highly awaited memoir isn’t your typical coming-of-age story. Instead, it’s a compassionate and humanizing gaze at what it’s like to be a queer and disabled person, told in Marshall’s original, addictive and acerbically witty voice. This story promises to be as funny as it is touching and insightful.”
This hilarious and wholly unique memoir by Greg Marshall tackles many subjects: disability, family relationships, and coming out (twice). With signature wit and humor, Marshall takes material that could be morbid in the hands of a lesser writer, and dares his readers not to laugh. He knows he's had an unconventional life, but there's no self-pity here. Instead, he embraces the absurdity of it all and leans into it, making one hell of an entertaining book.”
Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Book of 2023 Buzzfeed
Smart and heartfelt … His honesty and clarity in writing about disability makes this debut one to watch.
Most Anticipated Books of 2023 LitHub
Leg is probably the most profound and funniest memoir you'll ever read . . . The book is an entertaining and enlightening chronicle of Marshall’s life so far, including his discovery when he was almost 30 that he had cerebral palsy since birth, not ‘tight tendons’ like his parents told him . . . Marshall has pulled off the seemingly impossible. He’s written a memoir that is poignant and hilarious.
[A] riotously funny book that will steal your heart from the very first page. . . Rare is the book that makes me both laugh out loud and shed actual tears, but Leg made me do both. . . [Marshall's] writing brings to mind early David Sedaris, with its bitingly funny caricatures and descriptions, bathed in blistering commentary, deep-seated opinions, wit, intellect and, above all else, fierce family love.
Bracingly candid . . . With [his cerebral palsy] diagnosis came understanding, and a lifetime of resilience enabled [Marshall] to find the silver linings that allow him to live life on his own terms.
10 Noteworthy books for June Washington Post
In this big-hearted, (literally) laugh-out-loud memoir, Marshall explores how it touched every other aspect of his life, from dealing with grief, to dating as a gay man, to making sense of it all through writing.”
Greg Marshall taps into the joy, pain, and bizarre family habits that shaped who he's become in this memoir about growing up with cerebral palsy. Unabashedly exploring his sexuality and relationships, Marshall shows how the limp he developed as a child influenced his life, including his clunky stint as a young stage actor, the complexity of dealing with parents who lied about the "tight tendons" in his leg, even the death of his father due to ALS. Yet despite the title, Marshall's leg isn't the protagonist of the author's story, but rather a spectator of a life filled with love and loss. Marshall's honest, open narration reveals the emotion behind his body humor and sarcasm, ultimately foregrounding the humanity of disability and celebrating self-actualization. A.A.H. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
SEPTEMBER 2023 - AudioFile
