The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick

Amy     
Lynnie  


fiction

The Good Luck of Right Now tells the story of Bartholomew Neil's life immediately following the death of his mother, for whom he had been caring.  Bartholomew has a mild form of autism and has never had to live on his own and think about his own life goals.  The story is told through letters which Bartholomew writes to Richard Gere.  Bartholomew feels a connection to the actor because RG was Bartholomew's mother's favorite actor and because, in her confusion during her last days, she thought Bartholomew was RG.  Bartholomew's letters become a therapeutic way for him to not feel so alone and confused about his future.  It is a heartwarming tale including a cast of quirky characters.

Amy's Review

I listened to the audiobook of The Good Luck of Right Now after a friend recommended this author to me. I had seen The Silver Linings Playbook movie so I selected a different highly-rated novel by Matthew Quick to try. I was worried during the first couple of chapters that I wouldn’t be able to get through it. Bartholomew was depressing and I thought the whole book would be a downer. But, I started liking it once other characters were involved and the story became more hopeful and heartwarming. The style of telling the story through writing letters reminded me of The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. But, these quirky, damaged, and special characters in The Good Luck were definitely preferable to the infuriating teens from Perks. I will probably never forget the term “girlbrarian”—so cute. And, the extreme usage of the “f” word by Max was funny sometimes when he would insert the “f” word into the middle of a long word (e.g., subma-f**kin’-rine).  I would love to know how Richard Gere responded to his inclusion in this novel.  I thought the narrator did a great job with this audiobook.

Lynnie's Review

I read this in the summer of 2014 and I couldn't shake the sense of deja vu while I was reading it. While nothing like Silver Linings Playbook, there is a sense of similarity in the damaged characters & the quests they undertake in the pages of this book. The best thing about this book was being introduced to Canada's Cat Parliament- something about which I'd previously known nothing & enjoyed learning about.

But I truly hated the character who introduced us to Cat Parliament & his constant use of the word F**k in every single sentence- it was just annoying & unnecessary. I was also bothered that every character had some sort of mental issue- bipolar, mental & physical abuse, alcoholic, paranoid and/or delusional... it got tedious after a while & blunted the effect of all of the issues. 

Overall, if I learned anything from this book, it's that I won't rush out to read another one of Matthew Quick's novels.