Monday, January 27, 2014

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick  273 pp.

On his eighteenth birthday Leonard Peacock plans to shoot his former best friend, Asher Beal, and then himself after giving gifts to his mother and the three people he considers his friends. Sounds depressing but, even though it's an examination of the thought processes of a highly intelligent but disturbed young man, it is an entertaining and engrossing story. Leonard is a Bogart and Shakespeare loving loner; a misfit with an absent father and a self-absorbed mother. Gradually the backstory emerges which explains Leonard's actions. It's been a long time since I stayed up late to finish a book (without falling asleep) but I couldn't put this one down.

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