Book review: The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick
August 14, 2014 12 Comments
The Good Luck of Right Now: What it is about
From the publishers: “For thirty-eight years, Bartholomew Neil has lived with his mother. When she gets sick and dies, he has no idea how to be on his own. His redheaded grief counselor, Wendy, says he needs to find his flock and leave the nest. But how does a man whose whole life has been grounded in his mom, Saturday mass, and the library learn how to fly?
Bartholomew thinks he’s found a clue when he discovers a “Free Tibet” letter from Richard Gere hidden in his mother’s underwear drawer. In her final days, mom called him Richard—there must be a cosmic connection. Believing that the actor is meant to help him, Bartholomew awkwardly starts his new life, writing Richard Gere a series of highly intimate letters. Jung and the Dalai Lama, philosophy and faith, alien abduction and cat telepathy, the Catholic Church and the mystery of women are all explored in his soul-baring epistles. But mostly the letters reveal one man’s heartbreakingly earnest attempt to assemble a family of his own.”
The Good Luck of Right Now: What I thought
This book is a series of letters by the protagonist to Richard Gere, the movie star. That was really off-putting. 🙂 Do I care about movie stars? Sorry, not a lot.
But Bartholomew does, because his mother was RG’s biggest fan. And so, when his mother is terminal, he pretends to be RG to please her. He realizes that he’s much braver when he thinks about what RG would do in particular situations. His first goal in life, after his mother dies, is to have a drink in a bar with a guy. Just like other guys. His therapist suggested it but he has no idea how to achieve this.
He meets a number of strange people (the therapist isn’t quite who she claims to be, either). It’s fun to read about them, but I was worried for Bartholomew: they were likely to take advantage of him. However, bit by bit, he explores his new life and the people in it, and comes to accept a life without his mother.
This was a fun read, especially because of the characters that make an appearance. Bartholomew is odd but I did start to like him after a while. He’s so innocent for an almost-40-year old!
I never warmed to the letters themselves, but luckily, Bartholomew doesn’t address RG all the time. He spends a lot of the time just explaining what happened that day. He had a mystery in his life to which I guessed the answer quite soon, but the way it was revealed was still a surprise.
An easy read and a fun book.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars (good)
Number of pages: 304
First published: 2014
I got this: won from Adorable Books
Genre: fiction
Also read by this author: Love May Fail
About Judith
Leeswammes' Blog 
I listened to this book and really enjoyed it. His one friend who had the thing about cats had a bit too much of a potty mouth for me but otherwise I thought it was a sweet story.
You say you didn’t like the letters, is this because you don’t like epistolary novels in general, or these ones in particular? I think I’m kind of intrigued by the novel.
I kind of like the sound of this but don’t think I’d go out of my way to read it. And I like Richard Gere 🙂
In general I don’t care much for celebrities either but Richard Gere is hot 😉
I don’t care much for actors either but I like the sound of this otherwise. I’m glad that you liked this book despite the letters to Richard Gere.
I enjoyed this one as well. A quick read.
Sounds interesting… what a funny way to write a book by including an actor. He must have had to had permission to use Richard Gere in his book. hmmmmm
Sounds like a fun read! I’m adding it to my list, thanks for the reivew!
Love books that are a collection of letters, Richard Gere not quite as much. I’ve picked this one up a couple of times, might hold on to it the next time. Thanks for the review 🙂
The comic effect of the letter writing to RG would wear off quickly for me.
Great review! I loved the characters as well, but feared for the abuse Bartholomew would face in the real world also.
P.s: Did you change your perspective about moviestars? 😉
Not really, Tessa. 🙂