Weekly Reads: Good Luck of Right Now

The Good Luck of Right Now is the second book I've read by Matthew Quick, (Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock was the first, my review here). The Silver Lining Playbook's author went back to an adult book with his latest release. The story is told in letters from our main character, Bartholomew to actor Richard Gere, and I'm quite the sucker for unique perspectives (I really enjoyed Where'd You Go, Bernadette for this same reason). I wasn't as immediately sucked in to this book as I was Forgive Me, LP, and I wasn't as emotionally drained after finishing it either, which is a good thing. I'm currently trying to take a break from soul crushing, spirit draining reads that make me want to save everyone from everything. That gets exhausting.

Definitely a worthwhile read, but if you're only going to read one thing by Quick, I would still recommend Forgive Me Leonard Peacock as the one to read.

My rating: 3.5 stars.


Summary from goodreads:

Call it fate. Call it synchronicity. Call it an act of God. Call it . . . The Good Luck of Right Now. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook comes 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.