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Legs  By  cover art

Legs

By: William Kennedy
Narrated by: Joe Barrett
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Publisher's summary

Legs inaugurated William Kennedy's cycle of novels set in Albany, New York. True to both life and myth Legs evokes the flamboyant career of the legendary gangster Jack "Legs" Diamond, who was finally murdered in Albany. Through the equivocal eyes of Diamond's attorney, Marcus Gorman (who scraps a promising political career for the elemental excitement of the criminal underworld), we watch as Legs and his showgirl mistress, Kiki Roberts, blaze their gaudy trail across the tabloid pages of the 1920s and 1930s.

As an added bonus, when you purchase our Audible Modern Vanguard production of William Kennedy's book, you'll also receive an exclusive Jim Atlas interview. This interview – where James Atlas interviews Russell Banks about the life and work of William Kennedy – begins as soon as the audiobook ends.

This production is part of our Audible Modern Vanguard line, a collection of important works from groundbreaking authors.
©1983 William Kennedy (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Narrator Joe Barrett’s raspy no-nonsense voice is tangibly matched to the cigarette-smoking, whiskey-drinking toughs of the novel, and his timing with the speakeasy patter is spot-on." (AudioFile)
"Pure literary excitement...easy to read and hard to put down. I enjoyed it from beginning to end and wished it were longer." (Joseph Heller)
"Seductive portrait...a very skillful story, full of bounce and wit." (Newsweek)

What listeners say about Legs

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Excellent and Enjoyable

This is the first book in Kennedy's Albany series. I read it out of order (read Ironweed first) but order does not really matter in this series. This has wonderful writing and interesting with an pleasant gangster story that develop the characters well. I really like almost all of the Albany series, and this is one of the best. Even though this novel follows the life of a gangster, the novel manages to maintain the subtle, odd, very human magic of the Albany series.

The narration fix the book really well...nearly perfect.

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angry face to mr kearney

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

why do i have to read this stupid nonsense i got things to do like sit on my ass all day

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