The Good Luck of Right Now

I love stories about oddballs who find their flock, and I thoroughly enjoyed Matthew Quick's Silver Linings Playbook, but The Good Luck of Right Now just didn't work for me. The main character is a combination of quirks that never quite add up to a real person, and the plot is too thin to leave a lasting impression. Bartholomew was supposedly bullied and friendless as a child, but he doesn't appear to have any serious emotional or physical impairments except being overweight. For one brief moment he appears to be psychic, but that trait is quickly abandoned and never mentioned again. He talks about having an “angry man in his stomach” at times but he is never violent. It's hard not to like such a gentle giant, but it's difficult to fully embrace him either because of the inconsistencies in his portrayal.

Ultimately, this is a quick read whose idealistic “good luck of right now” philosophy is probably best suited for a young adult audience.