He is the only one who can see through Leonard’s façade and guesses that Leonard is suicidal. If only I had teachers like this when I was in high-school, teachers who actually care for their students and don’t treat them like they’re overgrown babies, but rather young adults with valid opinions of their own. I loved Herr Silverman, he was an amazing character. The book constantly questions the reader over the role of religion, of the purpose of life and death, and the effects of parental neglect and depression. Leonard enjoys looking at complex situations and asking the hard questions, which the novel replicates. Leonard’s voice is very honest and you can’t help but feel for him, which lends an authenticity to the book.

There is a part of him that just wants to die and be rid of this world and the horrors of it, but a larger part of him is waiting to be saved. He continually mentions that if just one person remembered that it was his birthday, he wouldn’t go through with his plan. My heart broke every single chapter as I read his interactions with his friends. Leonard is probably one of the loneliest characters I have ever read. As Leonard speaks to each of these people, his secrets and the events that led up to this moment are slowly revealed. Before that happens, he wants to say goodbye to the four people most important to him: his Humphrey Bogart obsessed neighbour the musical prodigy he never talks to the Christian home-schooled girl he has a crush on and his favourite teacher, Herr Silverman. It’s his eighteenth birthday and, instead of celebrating, he plans to kill his former best friend, Asher, and then himself. Leonard is in a really bad place at the beginning of the novel.

Combining humour and hope, the novel targets the most controversial issues effecting teenagers today: depression and school shootings.įorgive Me, Leonard Peacock is a dark book. Matthew Quick’s Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock was a poignant, moving novel that everyone needs to read. Like I’ve overstayed my welcome here on Earth, and everyone’s trying to give me hints about that constantly. Like there’s no more room for me in the world or something. “I feel like I’m broken-like I don’t fit together anymore.

Forgive me leonard