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The Good Luck of Right Now did one thing which I liked - introduced me to the Canadian Parliamentary Cats. It is quite a story - to keep Parliament Hill in Ottawa rodent-free, groundskeepers kept and cared for various stray cats which did the job all the way until the 1950's, when they were replaced by chemicals. Afterwards the staff did their best to keep up with the Canadian stereotype and did a totally awesome thing - established a sanctuary for the stray cats instead of kicking them out on t...
If you told me you were reading a novel about a 38-year-old man-child who had been living with his mother in Philadelphia until her recent death from brain cancer ; and that this same man spends his days in the Free Library writing in his 'Interesting Things I Have Heard' notebook while trying to work up the courage to say hello to a young woman whom he calls the 'Girlbrarian', it wouldn't take me long to guess that you must be reading a novel by Matthew Quick. Matthew Quick, the author of The S...
This is one of those cute, “feel good” stories when you just need some light reading.
I love epistolary novels generally, and this is quite a fun one in that the letters are all addressed to Richard Gere. Bartholomew Neil, 39, recently lost his mother to a brain tumor. As she descended into dementia, she started calling her son ‘Richard’ and, figuring she was mistaking him for their mutual favorite actor, he decided to run with it – making Gere a sort of alter ego, imaginary friend, and hallucinated Buddhist guru.Bartholomew has never had a job apart from taking care of his mothe...
3.5 stars"Do you enjoy Richard Gere movies?" I asked."Richard Gere? Richard fucking Gere?" Max said. "Fuck Richard Gere! What the fuck, hey?"No, this is not Andrew Dice Clay's standup comedy routine comeback. This is a snippet of dialogue between two extremely damaged dudes in Matthew Quick's formulaic (yet, inexplicably affecting) The Good Luck of Right Now. (Inexplicable, given it's not much more than a retooling of his earlier Silver Linings Playbook, a book I didn't much care for.)I'm not su...
I wondered if faith were not a form of pretending You’re in Luck! Matthew Quick, author of The Silver Linings Playbook, has written an incredibly moving story, populated with his usual range of damaged, quirky, lovable characters, but containing a core of significant philosophical substance. A man called “Q” Bartholomew Neil is 38 years old. He keeps a journal of interesting things. He has never held a job. He has lived with his mother all his life, and the two have always shared a close bond.
I got this book as a birthday present from a very kind friend - thank you, Tatiana!And hell, I don't really know where to start. There's something about Quick's characters that just gets to me. It's happened with every book of his that I've had the pleasure of reading - Sorta Like a Rock Star, Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock and now The Good Luck of Right Now - and I'm not sure how easy it will be to put it into words. His characters aren't ones you find often. They're unusual. Memorable. Quirky. Bu...
Some books I feel I should have liked, even loved, but I don't.I shouldn't have liked The Good Luck of Right Now as it's got way too much Catholicism for my liking, as many characters are devout practising Catholics. There's also a Catholic priest and two siblings who believe in aliens. Religion and aliens are definitely not on my favourites list. The amazing thing is that I enjoyed this novel very much. Incredibly enough, it's not preachy! Also, there's a good dose of healthy questioning of god...
I am a sucker for endearing characters and Bartholomew is certainly a lovable, memorable addition to the oeuvre of memorable characters.Bartholomew is 38 years old when his mother dies- he has never had to cope with anything on his own till now- How is he going to move forward?His mother had always said to him".....Whenever something bad happens to us, something good happens-often to someone else. And that's the Good Luck of Right Now. We must believe it. We must. We must...."How Bartholomew mov...
Note to start: I won this through First Reads. Thanks Harper. On with the review.I feel like I might be a bit of a minority in my opinion of this book, particularly since Matthew Quick is such a "hot" author since Silver Linings went massive. But anyway, I have to say I'm not overly impressed, though this is the first book I've actually read by him. The Good Luck of Right Now isn't really a bad book, it's just not the sort of thing that really caught my attention all the way through even though
This is a book of letters—a sweet, lightly written epistolary novel. Thirty-eight-year-old orphan Bartholomew Neil, a “developmentally stunted” man (according to his grief counselor), writes letters to the Buddhist activist actor Richard Gere after he discovers a form letter from Gere in his dead mother’s underwear drawer. They are sly letters—absolutely sincere on Bartholomew’s ingenuous level, but socially sly from the all-knowing author and the reader’s point of view. For instance, Bartholome...
Love surfaces in curious places I became a fan after reading Silver Linings Playbook, which like this is filled with dysfunctional characters. Bartholomew loses his mother to cancer after spending his life by her side without ever knowing his father. Since her favorite actor was Richard Gere, the story is told in letters he writes to him, which is not only dysfunctional but funny! Quick's humor becomes laugh out loud when we meet Max at a grief counseling group. His favorite word being f**k, he
I have a definite fondness for oddballs, misfits, underdogs and all similarly quirky characters. So it comes as no surprise that I usually enjoy books that revolve around or feature such characters. So The Good Luck of Right Now was right up my alley. Bartholomew Neil life around revolved around taking care of his mother. Now almost 40, socially awkward and kind of lonely, Bartholomew has to face the reality of his existence without his mother in it. After his mother death, he makes a surprising...
I should have written Richard Gere more letters. Heck, I should have written him one letter. One long diatribe where I offered up all of my feelings and emotions, thoughts on the Chinese government and Tibet, and all the women who have entered my life and then exited en masse, telling my story in a series of letters over a period of months or maybe it was years (I forgot), but if my source of inspiration for writing said letters is rifling through my mom’s underwear drawer, I’m glad I completely...
Asperger's Syndrome, meet Tourette'sA Catholic Priest, a guy with Asperger's Syndrome, a woman who was abducted by aliens, and her brother, a felinophile with Tourette's Syndrome, walk into a bar...Either the start of a joke, or a synopsis of The Good Luck of Right Now, a new book by Matthew Quick. Quick is the author of The Silver Linings Playbook. 'Silver Linings' was made into an Oscar winning film. I don't know if this new book will translate so successfully into a film, but as a book, it wa...
Bartholomew has always lived with his mother, with who he has a close relationship. His father’s never been a part of his life that he knows of. Bartholomew is different from other 38 year old men, with no real clue how to organize or prepare for a life of one’s one. We used to have a slightly younger man in my old neighborhood somewhat like Bartholomew that would always smile and wave, perfectly friendly, but his lack of social skills made conversation with him somewhat awkward. Bartholomew’s b...
When a band of misfits learn that they are a band of misfits--together! The only way to cure their assortment of emotional ailments is coming together and finding each other.The mother-son relationship reminds me of Confederacy of Dunces: two codependent souls live under one roof. But what happens when one of them is missing? Not the comedy of a small rickety home with bigger than life characters, but the opposite: a tragedy (but all tragedies in modern day are comedies, right? Because of the ir...
Listened to this audiobook on my commute to and back from work and it was truly delightful.I found the dialogue and its characters (especially Bartholomew of course) witty, funny and inspiring. There's also something to say about a writer that can find fun within religion and religion practices (in this case Catholicism and Buddhism) while still maintaining a sense of respect to it.This book didn't changed my life but it made a few commuting hours pretty entertaining.If you enjoy the author's ch...
I purchased this book after I found out that it was written by the author of "The Silver Linings Playbook ". I loved it! 4 3/4 stars from me. It's extremely quirky, crazy and I absolutely adored the main character, Bartholomew. I enjoyed every page of this very fast reading book. I Highly recommended it.
"You are my confidant, Richard Gere, and I'm not about to share my pretending with anyone, because pretending often ends when you allow non pretenders access to the better safer worlds you create for yourself." Bartholomew Neil's mother dies of brain cancer. In thirty-eight years, Bartholomew has never lived alone, never held a job, never had a date with a woman or a beer with a buddy. He doesn't know how to survive in the world without his beloved mother. When he discovers a form letter fro