The Good Luck of Right Now

The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick

Sigh....I wanted to like this book far more than I did. I LOVED Silver Linings Playbook and ever since have soaked up Matthew Quick's books. However, none have come close to being as good as the first  ever read.  Don't get me wrong, The Good Luck of Right Now is not a bad book by any means. It's just not up to par with my high expectations.

Bartholomew Neil clearly suffers from some sort of mental disability and has lived at home with his mother his entire life. Towards the end of her life, as brain cancer started to take over, she would ask him to pretend to be Richard Gere, her favorite actor, and often referred to him as Richard. By the time she past away, the only person that Bartholomew felt connected to anymore was Richard Gere. So he did the only thing he could think of; he wrote to Richard Gere.

Through his letters to Richard Gere, we go on a journey of self discovery with Bartholomew.  He finds friends, leaves the city he's spend his whole life in, and finally meets his father. The process is a lot for Bartholomew, but he always has his good friend Richard Gere to fall back on (even though Richard Gere never writes back).

The story and characters are engaging and sweet.  I found the plot line far too predictable. Because of that, I got bored about halfway through.  But I powered through and did enjoy the ending.

Rating: R