Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock

by Matthew Quick

[leahrosereads]

3.5 Stars

FORGIVE ME, LEONARD PEACOCK was and wasn’t what I expected the novel to be. It ended more positively than I thought it would, that’s for sure. I picked this up from my library as one of a couple of books that I’m going to read for Anti-Bullying Week. I started a few days late, but I’m relatively happy that this was the first book I read for this week.

This novel is about Leonard Peacock, his 18th birthday, and his desire to kill his ex-best friend (Asher Beal) and himself with his grandfather’s P-38 pistol.


Overall, I really liked the voice/narrative that the story was told in, but I felt like there was so much of Leonard’s life that was glossed over, by him, that it was hard to completely connect with the character. We find out the reason that Leonard wants to kill his ex-best friend and then himself, and when I read the why, I just felt horrible for both characters, and while what happened to both boys was awful, I can’t help but wonder why now? I don’t feel like that question was answered.

Leonard wasn’t a complex character, but at 17, how many of us were (are)? I know I wasn’t. I was still growing and learning and becoming myself, and myself changed constantly at that age. I did feel at times, Leonard’s personality didn’t match how I remember being at his age, but male vs. female, intelligence (Leonard definitely has brains that I’m envious of), and countless other reasons most likely play a part in that. That and, well, he’s not real, and no matter how hard an author tries, if you’re not a teenager, it’s hard to make those years seem/read believable.


Most of the secondary characters were quickly introduced, and while they were important in Leonard’s life, they didn’t seem important to the story. You could input another fictional character with other fictional issues and it would have worked for this story. Other than Walt and Herr Silverman, I didn’t really care for any of the others, but I think it’s because I had a Herr Silverman in high school. (He was an English teacher instead of History, but his enthusiasm and love for teaching made each day feel special, and he always made students (at least for me) feel like what we were discussing in classes mattered.)

Walt was Leonard’s next door neighbor, and just this old man that Leonard watched Bogart movies with, and who understood Leonard’s weirdness, but didn’t fault him for being different. I really wish we saw more Walt/Leonard conversations, because they were great together.


The writing was really good, and FORGIVE ME, LEONARD PEACOCK was a quick, fast paced read that I definitely enjoyed it while I was reading it. Quick did a good job at keeping the reader interested, even if I wish there was more to the story than there was, and that the characters were a little more developed.


Overall, I would recommend this if you don’t have anything else to read and want to try out a book next year for Anti-Bullying Week.