Post by janetandjohn on Sept 13, 2016 16:31:57 GMT
Reading Amazon reviews, I can see that this is definitely a Marmite book. Some readers just don't get it, some don't want to get it and some just plain love it with a lot of views in between!
Bartholomew Neil is a special needs person. You think? Well, as each chapter of the book is a letter he's written to Richard Gere (the first few pages will tell you why), and as he is a 40 year old man who has always lived at home with his Mom, and has never had a job maybe that's right. Or maybe it isn't. He has spent some years nursing his mother, who has just died from cancer, when he writes his first letter to Richard Gere. It is not long before people are trying to "help". His local priest who is also a family friend, is bi-polar and after an event at church he moves in with Bartholomew to look after him. It's soon clear that Father McNamee actually needs more help than Bartholomew, but at least the two of them can look after each other. And then there is the social worker who needs to be helped herself and is of no use to Bartholomew - but receives help from him and from Father McNamee. And then there is the girl at the library who he likes a lot but cannot bring himself to talk to - and her brother Max who he comes across at a therapy session, and who inserts the word "fuck" into every sentence he utters, sometimes more than once.
The title is rather special too. It is his Mom's mantra. She always believed that for every person enjoying bad luck, right that minute there was someone enjoying good luck.
So obviously there are some special needs all round and it is for you, the reader to work out who needs what the most. I have enjoyed two of Matthew Quick's books already - The Silver Linings Playbook and Forgive me, Leonard Peacock and I enjoyed this just as much.
Bartholomew Neil is a special needs person. You think? Well, as each chapter of the book is a letter he's written to Richard Gere (the first few pages will tell you why), and as he is a 40 year old man who has always lived at home with his Mom, and has never had a job maybe that's right. Or maybe it isn't. He has spent some years nursing his mother, who has just died from cancer, when he writes his first letter to Richard Gere. It is not long before people are trying to "help". His local priest who is also a family friend, is bi-polar and after an event at church he moves in with Bartholomew to look after him. It's soon clear that Father McNamee actually needs more help than Bartholomew, but at least the two of them can look after each other. And then there is the social worker who needs to be helped herself and is of no use to Bartholomew - but receives help from him and from Father McNamee. And then there is the girl at the library who he likes a lot but cannot bring himself to talk to - and her brother Max who he comes across at a therapy session, and who inserts the word "fuck" into every sentence he utters, sometimes more than once.
The title is rather special too. It is his Mom's mantra. She always believed that for every person enjoying bad luck, right that minute there was someone enjoying good luck.
So obviously there are some special needs all round and it is for you, the reader to work out who needs what the most. I have enjoyed two of Matthew Quick's books already - The Silver Linings Playbook and Forgive me, Leonard Peacock and I enjoyed this just as much.