Over time, too, we come to understand Leonard’s reasons behind his decision to commit murder, even if his ability to commit these acts remains difficult to relate to. Throughout the story, the reader remains quietly hopeful that one of the people Leonard visits will persuade him to avoid committing the act(s) he feels compelled to do. We see Leonard as an eighteen-year-old clearly alienated from his peers his initial intention, we soon learn, is to spend the day delivering gifts to the few people who mean something to him. With a nod to the Columbine and Virginia Tech school shootings, the story begins on Leonard’s birthday where he expressly tells the reader that he is planning to kill his former best friend, followed by himself.įrom the moment he stows a WWII P-38 pistol in his rucksack, we know we’re in for an ominous read, expertly engineered by Quick to be a work of social commentary on post-Sandy Hook USA and young male disenfranchisement. We all know how much Americans love guns, as Matthew Quick is all-too-painfully aware in his novel Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock, a dark yet sombre tale of a troubled teenager harbouring a murderous urge for a school classmate.
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