Legs (novel)

Legs

First edition
Author William Kennedy
Country United States
Language English
Publisher Coward, McCann & Geoghegan
Publication date
1975
Media type Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages 317 pp
ISBN 0-698-10672-5
OCLC 1345969
813/.5/4
LC Class PZ4.K3615 Le PS3561.E428
Preceded by The Ink Truck
Followed by Billy Phelan's Greatest Game

Legs is a 1975 novel by William Kennedy. It is the first book in Kennedy's Albany Cycle.

Plot summary

The book chronicles the life of the gangster Jack 'Legs' Diamond. It is told from the perspective of Jack's lawyer, Marcus Gormen. Marcus becomes involved with "Legs" Diamond was to seek excitement out of his boring life, and the best way to do this was by immortalizing a highly popular gangster. Through Gormen's eyes, Kennedy is able to elicit sympathy for the criminal, transposing this sympathy into the context of America during the 1920s and 30s: excess, collapse, destitution, and analysis of right and wrong, good and evil.

Adaptations

In 2009, Audible.com produced an audio version of Legs, narrated by Joe Barrett, as part of its Modern Vanguard line of audiobooks.