7.6 /10 1 Votes
Language English Pages 317 pp OCLC 1345969 Country United States of America | 3.8/5 Goodreads Publication date 1975 ISBN 0-698-10672-5 Originally published 1975 Publisher G. P. Putnam's Sons Preceded by The ink truck | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Media type Print (hardback & paperback) Followed by Billy Phelan's Greatest Game Similar William Kennedy books, Albany Cycle books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Legs is a 1975 novel by William Kennedy. It is the first book in Kennedy's Albany Cycle.
Contents
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.