Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock Author: Matthew Quick | Language: English | ISBN:
B00A2E1EV8 | Format: EPUB
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock Description
In addition to the P-38, there are four gifts, one for each of my friends. I want to say good-bye to them properly. I want to give them each something to remember me by. To let them know I really cared about them and I'm sorry I couldn't be more than I was--that I couldn't stick around--and that what's going to happen today isn't their fault.
Today is Leonard Peacock's birthday. It is also the day he hides a gun in his backpack. Because today is the day he will kill his former best friend, and then himself, with his grandfather's P-38 pistol.
But first he must say good-bye to the four people who matter most to him: his Humphrey Bogart--obsessed next-door neighbor, Walt; his classmate Baback, a violin virtuoso; Lauren, the Christian homeschooler he has a crush on; and Herr Silverman, who teaches the high school's class on the Holocaust. Speaking to each in turn, Leonard slowly reveals his secrets as the hours tick by and the moment of truth approaches.
In this riveting book, acclaimed author Matthew Quick unflinchingly examines the impossible choices that must be made--and the light in us all that never goes out.
- File Size: 501 KB
- Print Length: 278 pages
- Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (August 13, 2013)
- Sold by: Hachette Book Group
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00A2E1EV8
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,986 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #97
in Books > Teens > Social Issues
- #97
in Books > Teens > Social Issues
Matthew Quick has presented us with Leonard Peacock, in a story that is emotionally gripping to the last ambiguous page. Leonard lives alone in his suburban New Jersey home: drug addled ex-rock and roller father and model mother selfishly pursuing her own life and dreams that do not include Leonard. Intelligent, Leonard is a philosophical thinker desperate to find hope and happiness in adulthood as his childhood hasn't been full of laughs. His former best friend, Asher, is portrayed with a sociopathic bent: while we are never fully told the reason for their antipathy, the result is all too clearly apparent in Leonard's anger, and vengeful fantasies.
What is special about today is that it is Leonard's birthday, and not one person has made an attempt to acknowledge the day. But, his plans for making his 18th birthday special have been building for a while now. Told in short chapters much like journal entries, much of the story is told in first person point of view: we actually see and feel Leonard's disenchantment with the state of the world, after the journey to find a positive reason to becoming an adult. We hope, as he takes us along his journey that he is able to find a reason to continue, and find some hope to soothe his troubled thoughts. That he is highly intelligent and thoughtful, and perhaps even a bit elitist in his beliefs about the mental capacity and functioning of others is clearly evident. In fact, despite his wish for a painful end for his best friend, and his apparent willingness to embrace his own death: this is not a kid who is mean or vengeful.
His self-proclaimed new best friend is his neighbor, Walt, an elderly and infirm man that shared his fondness for classic films, especially Bogart, with Leonard.
Matthew Quick's Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock is a heartbreaking and compelling character study of a teenager who is on the verge of committing two unthinkable acts: killing a classmate then himself. This insightful novel is a must read for both teenagers and their parents.
Leonard Peacock is a very intelligent young man but he does not fit in with his fellow students. His mother has checked out of his life literally and figuratively so Leonard pretty much does as he pleases. His closest (and sadly, only) friend is his octogenarian next door neighbor Walt. They pass their time together watching old Bogart films and exchanging movie quotes. The only other positive role model in Leonard's life is his favorite teacher, Herr Silverman.
All of Leonard's unhappiness and confusion culminate on his eighteenth birthday. With his birthday forgotten by his incredibly self-absorbed and absentee mother, Leonard methodically goes about saying a final goodbye to the important people in his life. Walt and Herr Silverman are alarmed by his behavior and while they ask probing and pointed questions about his state of mind, Leonard insists he is fine.
Mr. Quick's characterization of Leonard is amazingly accurate. I have an eighteen year old son and I went straight to the source after reading some of Leonard's astute observations. Much to my amazement, he agreed completely with Leonard's viewpoint. I must confess I am a little saddened by both my son's and Leonard's cynical outlook about society and adulthood.
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock is written in first person from Leonard's point of view. The story is well-written and unique but a couple of things take some getting used to.
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