Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock

I loved it, then I thought, “Why did my kindle just skip to the acknowledgements?” Be prepared for an abrupt end, but upon reflection, a satisfying one.

5/5

I didn't really like this book that much. I get that it's supposed to show you the feelings and the reasons behind why someone might want to kill themselves (and someone else I guess). But I just could not get behind Leonard as a character. I did not sympathize or relate with him because killing someone is wrong. I don't care what they did. I also really hated the love interest. I don't even remember her name that's how much I didn't like her. I also hated the way Leonard treated her and wouldn't respect her. I had heard things about this book. Never good or bad, just things. I guess this book just wasn't for me. Also those letters to the future had me all confused for like the first and second one, I was like what the hell is happening and what are these? One last thing. Footnotes are the worst and the interrupted my reading and I hated them.

While I thoroughly enjoyed Leonard's character I found myself disconnected from the plot itself.

először is elmondanám, hogy irtózatosan utáltam a silver linings playbookot. a filmet, mert a könyv ezek után marhára nem érdekelt.
azt hiszem, nem vagyok kompatibilis ennek a faszinak a stílusával. az alapötlet jó és érdekes, de a kivitelezés meglehetősen lapos. a felénél volt egy igen hosszasan elnyújtott bazi unalmas rész, aminél kicsit majdnem sírva fakadtam, hogy miért nem dnf-eltem korábban. aztán valahogy keresztülverekedtem magam rajta, de eléggé erőltetett menetben csináltam végig.
igazából rohadt jó társadalomkritika, bár annak ellenére, hogy leonard peacock különcnek van beállítva, eléggé klisések a meglátásai. vagy csak én is különc vagyok és ezért gondolom, hogy nem volt ez semmi különös.

nem kavart föl bennem semmit, ami azért egy ilyen témájú könyvnél kifejezetten szomorú.

i thought this book was just so beautifully written, and had a wonderfully touching story.

Honestly, I just didn't hate it because I really enjoy Quick's writing. But I found this teenager a bit on the tiring side, the loose ends difficult to follow and the story itself just ok.

A definite readalike for [b:Thirteen Reasons Why 1217100 Thirteen Reasons Why Jay Asher https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1333822506s/1217100.jpg 2588213], [b:The Perks of Being a Wallflower 22628 The Perks of Being a Wallflower Stephen Chbosky https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1363910637s/22628.jpg 2236198], and other books about articulate depressed/suicidal youth. I think it will really resonate with a lot of teens. For me, coming right after [b:Liv, Forever 18077961 Liv, Forever Amy Talkington https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1392848882s/18077961.jpg 25384385], I was a little bit like, “Yeah, okay, I get it, Leonard. You're DIFFERENT from all those other SHEEP.”Still, I appreciated Leonard's candor as a narrator and I definitely felt for him.

Short Review: A teen decides to commit a murder/suicide on his 18th birthday. The subject matter seems (and is) serious. But Matthew Quick does a great job of helping the reader understand mental illness (this book and Silver Linings Playbook are both entirely first person narratives).

But Quick is hopeful in the books. It is clear people really do care about Leonard Peacock, even if his life is not the greatest and he doesn't have a lot of friends. And Leonard does not really want to kill his best friend or himself, even if he feels like that is the best way for things to go.

This is another older young adult book. The content is really not for under 16. But handled properly (with discussion and adult interaction) I think a lot of teens would enjoy the book.

As an adult I really recommend the book. My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/forgive/

This review is long overdue. It's so long overdue, that I don't even know what I really want to say about this book.

For one, I would like to say that I loved this book, but I didn't love it enough to give it five stars instead of four. There was only one minor thing that made me give it four stars: the footnotes. To me, footnotes in a story just throws me off (I am looking at you, An Abundance of Katherines). This story, Forgive me Leonard Peacock didn't have a lot of foootnotes, but when they would some would come, they would be long and possibly go over into the next page. At first I only ran into maybe two, and I vowed to give this book a 4.5, but when I came across another, I was all, “Fuck it I'm giving it a four!”

That's not to say that I didn't enjoy them though. They were a nice addon, just not enjoyable on my end.

The characters were one of my favorite parts in the story. I loved reading about them, especially Herr Silverman. I wish I had a teacher like him; someone who cared about the students and went out their way to help them. Leonard, too, was a fun person to know. He was always brutally honest in everything he said, but was he like that always, or just because he was hurt? And his mom. I did not like that woman one bit. I just wanted to smack her, or for Leonard to smack her, but you don't get everything you want in life.
I don't know where I'm going with this review. If I had wrote it the day after, it would be more well thought out, but since it's been a while, it's all weird and stuff. What I want to say is that, in the end, this is one of the most brutally honest books I have ever read in my seventeen years of living. It made me feel things I have never felt before or care for a character like I have never cared before (well, besides in Perks and Aristotle & Dante). This has easily become one of my favorite books ever, without a five-star rating, too. It's just that good.