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Book Review

Publisher's Note:

From Matthew Quick, the New York Times bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook, comes The Good Luck of Right Now, a funny and tender story about family, friendship, grief, acceptance, and Richard Gere—an entertaining and inspiring tale that will leave you pondering the rhythms of the universe and marveling at the power of kindness and love. For thirty-eight years, Bartholomew Neil has lived with his mother. When she gets sick and dies, he has no idea how to be on his own. His redheaded grief counselor, Wendy, says he needs to find his flock and leave the nest. But how does a man whose whole life has been grounded in his mom, Saturday mass, and the library learn how to fly? Bartholomew thinks he’s found a clue when he discovers a “Free Tibet” letter from Richard Gere hidden in his mother’s underwear drawer. In her final days, mom called him Richard—there must be a cosmic connection. Believing that the actor is meant to help him, Bartholomew awkwardly starts his new life, writing Richard Gere a series of highly intimate letters. Jung and the Dalai Lama, philosophy and faith, alien abduction and cat telepathy, the Catholic Church and the mystery of women are all explored in his soul-baring epistles. But mostly the letters reveal one man’s heartbreakingly earnest attempt to assemble a family of his own. A struggling priest, a “Girlbrarian,” her feline-loving, foul-mouthed brother, and the spirit of Richard Gere join the quest to help Bartholomew. In a rented Ford Focus, they travel to Canada to …

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The Good Luck of Right Now

by Matthew Quick

Reviewer: Lydia
Genre: Fiction
Recommended Age: 21+

Overall Book Review:

The first Matthew Quick book I read was The Silver Linings Playbook, and I really only picked it up because I liked the movie so much. (Surprisingly, the book didn’t outshine the movie for me. I don’t know, maybe it was Jennifer Lawrence’s performance, or maybe the writing of the screenplay really was better. Typically I like a book better than a movie that is based on a book, but in this rare instance, that constant doesn’t apply.)

With a main character who has Asperger’s and whose life goal is going out for drinks with a woman, and who stalks a “Girlbrarian” by day, this book was an interesting and entertaining one for sure. I enjoyed it a lot until a new character entered: the “Girlbrarian”‘s brother. He swore excessively and that really got on my nerves after a while, but I was able to get past that though (kind of). Also, at times the main character, who sports the wonderful name of Bartholomew, seemed to be severely mentally disabled, but at other times his thinking seemed so clear and profound that I had a hard time believing his mental handicap went as deep as my first impression.

In The Good Luck of Right Now Matthew Quick offers his readers a humorous and at times, serious look at the life of a man who has been sheltered all his life, and how he is able to rise up and meet expectations even in the face of tragedy. Though this was fiction, I found it highly inspiring.


Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  5 religious exclamations; 7 mild obscenities; 10 derogatory names; 3 scatological words; 2 anatomical terms; 47 F-word derivatives.

Violence/Gore:  A character dies from cancer; monks dies from lighting themselves on fire; animals are mentioned to kill each other; a student is severely bullied with some description of the verbal and physical threats; a character contemplates suicide; a woman briefly describes a bloody wound sustained from being sexually assaulted.

Sex/Nudity:  Porn is mentioned briefly, with some description; adults kiss several times; a character commits adultery; molestation is briefly mentioned with no description; a prostitute is mentioned briefly, along with some description of sex acts offered; sex between adults is referred to twice with no explicit detail.

Mature Subject Matter:

Death of a parent, cancer, mental disabilities, personal crisis.

Alcohol / Drug Use:

Adults drink; adults smoke.

Overall Book Rating
Profanity/Language
Rating:
10
10
Violence/Gore
Rating:
6
10
Sex/Nudity
Rating:
6
10

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About the Reviewer

Lydia
Books and reading have always been an important part of my life. When I was very young, my grandma was the library director at our local public library. Years later, after she had retired, I became a librarian at the same library and worked there for several years before taking a part-time job at a local coffee shop, which gives me more time to do what I love, to read and to review books! A few of my favorite authors are Aimee Bender, Diane Chamberlain, and Curtis Sittenfeld however, I will read almost any book I come across! In my spare time you can find me reading (of course), volunteering at a wildlife animal rehab, or hanging out with my three house rabbits.

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