Review of Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

Format: Paperback
Genres: Contemporary, Mental Health,
Pages: 273
Publisher: Headline
Release Date: 13/08/2013
Find The Author: Website ¦ Twitter
Abe Books ¦ Book Depository ¦ Goodreads

Leonard Peacock is turning 18.
And he wants to say goodbye.
Not to his former best friend, whose torments have driven him to consider committing something tragic and horrific.
Nor to his mum who's moved out and left him to fend form himself. But to his four friends.
A Humphrey-Bogart-obsessed neighbour
A teenage violin virtuoso
A pastor's daughter
A teacher
Most of the time, Leonard believes he's weird and sad but these friends have made him think that maybe he's not.
He wants to thank them, and bid them farewell.


Leonard's story isn't an easy one to tell - his mother isn't interested in him, he can't forgive his best friend and he's hiding a gun in his backpack. A gun that he plans to use on himself tonight. But not before he says goodbye, and gives each person that made an impact on his life a birthday present. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock is a strange, haunting story told with brutal honesty.

There's a small cast of characters, and because of Leonard's voice,  felt as if I knew them all too. From his neighbour Walt, whose house Leonard can stop by anytime and watch endless amounts of Bogart movies, to his teacher, Herr Silverman, who was just the person Leonard needed. Herr Silverman was my favourite character, as he easily went beyond his role of a teacher.

There's quite a lot of footnotes in this story, sometimes so many that they continue at the bottom of the next page. I love footnotes, so this was fine by me. These footnotes were mostly used by Leonard to describe something that happened in the past and worked really well. However, having them continue to the next page without warning could be a little confusing.

The ending was good, and worked very well for the book but I was left wanting more. Leonard's teacher had suggested to Leonard to write to himself, from the future, and we see a few chapters of that. He constructed a whole world where he has a wife and child in an apocalyptic landscape and lives in a lighthouse of all things. This was used for the final chapter, whereas I would have preferred to have heard from Leonard himself.


Comments

  1. Anonymous10:47 am BST

    Thanks for the wonderful review - I really want to read this book in the near future! I''m glad you enjoyed it and I love the idea of footnotes. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. CG @ Paper Fury12:19 pm BST

    I wasn't such a fan of the future-letters, but I LOVED the footnotes! I always love footnotes, I think they're super clever. And those random facts?! They're just awesome. I don't understand why people apparently (at least in books) shut down people who spurt out random facts. It's AWESOME. Or else...maybe...I am one of the strange freaks who spouts out random facts myself. >.>

    ReplyDelete

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