my books. my life.

Title: Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock
Author: Matthew Quick
Narrator: Noah Galvin
Genre: Contemporary YA
Pages: 288 pages
Audio: 6.3 hours
Year: 2013
Publisher: Hachette Audio
Source: Review copy provided by publisher
Book Rating: 4.5/5
Audio Rating: 5/5

Summary:

Leonard Peacock is going to kill himself today. It’s his 18th birthday, but no one has remembered. His mom is hours away in New York City, leaving him to fend for himself. His best friend is his geriatric neighbor who watches Bogie films all day. So he’s just going to end it all now, after he passes out some parting gifts. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock novel details this last day.

My Thoughts:

I’d heard a lot of positive reviews of this book, but I didn’t actually know much about it when I started reading it. And I got to the first Letter from the Future and thought I had somehow gotten myself into another paranormal/dystopian/YA novel. But I can assure you that Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock is worth reading and very unique.

Leonard is a little whiny and self-involved. But he’s a teenager with a pretty crappy life, so that’s expected. He’s also very observant and very smart. He knows high school isn’t the be all end all but he’s still stuck there.

You’d think a whole novel focused on one day might grow tedious, but I was always engaged as a reader and always anxiously awaiting Leonard’s next move.

One thing that I personally loved about this story was the portrayal of just how influential a good teacher can be. Teachers aren’t valued in our society the way they should be (I know, I see the paycheck my husband brings home every week compared with the tremendous amount of time he works) and it is nice to see a teacher like Herr Silverman. I suspect Matthew Quick had one of those teachers in his past.

I highly recommend this (and I think fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower will especially love it).

Audiobook Thoughts:

Galvin was excellent. He has a strong voice, but still sounded age appropriate and captured the sarcastic, angry, and scared voice of Leonard Peacock.