Forgive Me Leonard Peacock By Matthew Quick

[amazon_link id=”147220820X” target=”_blank” ] [/amazon_link]’Forgive Me Leonard Peacock’ is the latest book by New York Times bestseller, Matthew Quick.

Eighteen-year-old Leonard Peacock knows exactly what he will do. He will say goodbye. Not to him mum – who he calls Linda to annoy her, who’s moved out and left him to fend for himself. Nor to his former best friend, whose torments have driven him to consider committing the unthinkable. But to his four friends; a Humphrey Bogart obsessed neighbour, a teenage violin virtuoso, a pastor’s daughter and 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 thanks them and say goodbye.

‘Forgive Me Leonard Peacock’ is one of the most emotionally charged stories that I have read this year, a story so sad and troubled that I read it in a day.

We are introduced to Leonard on the day of his 18th birthday, the day that he plans to kill himself and his classmate. Leonard is a reclusive character with a witty sense of humour, his best friend is his elderly neighbour who has a desire for Bogart films and he lives alone, as his mother deals with her chaotic life balancing her busy fashion designer career and her French lover and poor Leonard is always an afterthought.

As Leonard prepares for his last day on Earth, he kindly gives out presents to the four people that have made an impact on his life, people who have seen past his eccentric behaviour and accepted him for who he is, a sweet boy with a kind heart. It is through these scenes with these people, that we see incredibly sad moments with Leonard, as he hands out these gifts unknown to others, these are Leonard’s silent pleas for help and for someone to simply acknowledge his 18th birthday, a great milestone in his life. But as the day passes and Leonard’s thoughts get darker, we find out why he is so troubled and why this significant day has come.

With a cast of wonderfully unique and complex characters and an extremely strong and cleverly thought out plot, I found this book to be a gripping story. And with such addition of footnotes that I initially found distracting but later found quite quirky, given a further insight into Leonard’s thinking and lifestyle and also letters from his future occasionally gave this originally sad tale, an element of optimism.

‘Forgive Me Leonard Peacock’ is a beautifully written and powerful story that explores the issues of bullying, abuse and the sheer desire to be accepted, with an intensity that rages throughout, this book is one of the tragic stories I have read in recent times and genuinely left me with a lump in my throat, as I longed for our high school hero to finally get his deserved acceptance and most definitely his happy ever after. />[/amazon_link]

You can buy [amazon_link id=”147220820X” target=”_blank” ]Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock from Amazon. [/amazon_link]