Review: Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick
Publisher: Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date: August 13, 2013
Purchase: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

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.

My Thoughts:
I am not sure I was in the right frame of mind to read this. It was very dark and disconcerting and usually I can handle that, but this book really tore me apart and I wasn't at all prepared for that.

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock is like the movie 16 Candles but with a very dark twist.  It is Leonards eighteenth birthday and nobody knows.  All he wants is for someone to say Happy Birthday, but since this probably won't be happening he decides to take some things into his own hands.   Leonard has decided to kill Asher, his ex best friend, and then kill himself on his eighteenth birthday.  This book is centered around him saying his good byes to the people that made an impression on his life and explaining why he has made this decision.

It was all so terribly sad.  I don't even know what to say except that.  What Leonard went through when he was younger was just heart breaking and I really wish I could have seen what happened after his eighteenth birthday.  I find that I want revenge like I have never wanted before in my life and I just want to grab Leonard and runaway with him to keep him safe.  He is beyond broken and I honestly think he is the most broken character I have ever read about.

I love Herr and Walt for what they tried to do.  They were heros and they deserve medals for seeing the signs and being there for Leonard when nobody else was.  If he didn't have these two in his life I am not sure he would have lasted as long as he did.  His mother was a vile creature that again makes me want to scream for revenge, but Asher is the true villain here.  I don't know if I will ever be able to read a hero named Asher because the name is now tainted.  I have never wanted to reach inside a book and hurt a character as much as I wanted to with Asher.  Leonards mother takes a close second though.

This book is not one that should be picked up on a whim.  It is dark and not something that will take the reader on an adventure. Do I think people should still read it, definitely.  It brings up a subject that isn't really talked about and I think it should be since I know it happens.  Bravo to the author for bringing this to life and showing that dark things need to be talked about.