Matthew Quick

Call it fate Call it synchronicity Call it an act of God Call it . . . The Good Luck of Right Now 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 by writing Richard Gere a series of 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, foulmouthed brother, and the spirit of Richard Gere join the quest to help Bartholomew. In a rented Ford Focus, they travel to Canada to see the Cat Parliament and find Bartholomew's biological father . . . and discover so much more.

The Good Luck of Right Now

Jena

I listened for God’s voice, but all I heard were the birds.

Colleen

** spoiler alert **
           This review is made entirely of SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

This was a book club selection. I probably wouldn't have picked it up otherwise; and if I had, I would not have finished it. This book was completely lackluster.

Lets start with the concept. The entire book is written in the form of letters to Richard Gere. I don't like books that involve real life celebrities. And I got a little burnt out on epistolary tales on Meg Cabot in my teen years. It isn't a bad format, but I think it is one best used sparingly and only pulled of by the right author with the right setting. In The Good Luck of Right Now, thirty-nine year old mentally handicapped Bartholomew finds a form humanitarian letter from Richard Gere in his mother's things, makes Gere his alter ego/spirit guide/confidant and starts writing letters to him (although it did sound as if he ever mailed them). The letters are nonsensical ramblings. Chapter two is almost entirely about masturbation for crying out loud. I don't think I can like a book that contains the phrase, "Do you ever masturbate, Richard Gere?"

It is clear very early on that Bartholomew has asperger's syndrome or something similar. It's hard to write this review without sounding prejudiced against people with developmental disorders, but the concept fell flat. I didn't bond with any of the characters (all seven of them). Besides the main character, there was the bipolar, alcoholic priest (don't get excited; he wasn't interesting), another developmentally challenged thirty-nine year old with a potty mouth and a fear of aliens, his traumatized rape victim sister, an abused therapist-in-training, a creepy priest, and a creepy therapist. Those last three are only briefly featured in the book. All of the characters were dreary and nonsensical. When you take boring characters and put them on a boring plot then you get a very boring book.

Speaking of the plot, I can some it up neatly: While dealing with his mother's death, with whom he had an overly enmeshed relationship, a thirty-nine year old mentally handicapped man becomes obsessed with writing letters to celebrity Richard Gere. He then goes on a mission with two other random unstable people and a bipolar priest to find his biological father. Then in a HUGE TWIST (sarcasm) the priest turns out to be his father. Then he dies. While I didn't entirely expect the dying, the fact that Father McNamee is his biological father was glaringly obvious from about chapter three when Father McNamee dedicated two masses in a row to Bartholomew's mother. As you get closer to the end, Quick starts beating you on the head with the fact. Bartholomew even starts referring to him as "Father" rather than "Father McNamee." Following McNamee's death, the unstable sister tells Bartholomew that once she takes her brother to the Cat Parliament she is going to kill herself. Bartholomew then offers to let them both live with him, and they all live mostly happily ever after except for McNamee who is, of course, dead. The book definitely did not live up to Amazon's claim of being "an entertaining and inspiring tale that will leave you pondering the rhythms of the universe and marveling at the power of kindness and love."

All I am pondering right now is how grossly tiresome this book was. It is a really good thing that it was so short.

I'm going to attribute this book's popularity to leftover enthusiasm for The Silver Linings Playbook. I didn't read that book, but I watched the movie and was entirely unimpressed. Now that I have read this book, I will wholeheartedly avoid any Matthew Quick books! He seems to be fond of writing about mental disorders. But he doesn't write well, so it just isn't worth the effort.

Meghan Truskowski

Different but all of Quick books are different

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. He 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. Bartholomew awkwardly starts his new life, writing Gere a series of letters—Jung and the Dalai Lama, philosophy and faith, alien abduction and cat telepathy are all explored in his soul-baring epistles. But mostly the letters reveal one man's desire to assemble a family of his own. A struggling priest, a "Girlbrarian," her feline-loving, foul-mouthed brother, and the spirit of Richard Gere all join the quest to help Bartholomew. In a rented Ford Focus, they travel to Canada to see the Cat Parliament and find his biological father . . . and discover so much more.

A Novel

Allison Garber

Gigi V

shelby mosel

Jerilynn Hallett 

Julia

Cindy Lieberman

Hannah Derzanovich

Jennifer Rittall

Alissa Kirchner

Ingrid cops

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 see the cat Parliament and find his biological father . . . and discover so much more.

The Good Luck of Right Now

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