Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock

The young adult novel Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock depicts the day 18-year-old Leonard Peacock plans to carry out a murder-suicide. Author Matthew Quick wrote this and other popular titles, including Silver Linings Playbook, adapted into the Oscar-winning film. This guide refers to the 2013 hardback first edition from Little, Brown and Company.

Plot Summary

Narrator and protagonist Leonard Peacock sits alone in his home the morning of his birthday. Later that day, he plans to kill himself and his former best friend turned popular bully, Asher Beal. He carries four wrapped presents and a Nazi P-38 gun in his bag. Leonard visits his elderly neighbor Walt and gives him the first present, a vintage hat. Leonard writes “Letter from the Future Number 1” to himself, describing himself as a happy family man amidst a dystopian society in the year 2032. He later writes fictional letters from his wife and daughter.

In the present, Leonard arrives late to school and shares tense interactions with school staff. In an extended flashback, Leonard skips school to follow commuters, one of whom catches and publicly shames him for this behavior.

Leonard has spent three years listening to his classmate Baback practice the violin alone at school. Leonard gives Baback his second gift, donating his college fund to a good cause, but Baback rejects it. After Herr Silverman’s Holocaust class, Leonard gives Herr Silverman his grandfather’s Bronze Star. Concerned, Herr Silverman asks if Leonard is thinking about suicide and gives him his personal phone number in case of an emergency. 

Leonard gives his fourth and final gift to Lauren Rose, his on-again, off-again friend and a devout Christian. Leonard kisses her without consent and leaves in shame to continue his plan. As Leonard waits behind Asher’s house to carry out the murder, he cannot shake disturbing memories. During their friendship, Asher sexually abused Leonard for two years. Leonard, saddened and overwhelmed, decides not to kill Asher. He travels to a bridge by a river and, in the book’s climax, attempts suicide with the Nazi P-38. The gun’s trigger will not fire. Leonard calls Herr Silverman, who rushes to the bridge. The two discuss Leonard’s letters from the future, the struggle for hope, and the power of being different. Leonard tells his teacher about his past with Asher and throws the P-38 in the river. 

Leonard sleeps on the couch in Herr Silverman’s apartment, then wakes before dawn and anxiously heads home. He stops at Walt’s house to relax before a Humphrey Bogart film. Leonard’s mother, Linda, arrives at Leonard’s home and denies that her son exhibited the suicidal behavior that Herr Silverman reported. Leonard leaves his mother at home and travels to Philadelphia. He writes “Letter from the Future Number 4,” in which his fictional daughter S prepares to enter the world as an 18-year-old like himself. 

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock places readers inside the head of a young man wrestling with difficult issues. Many characters dismiss him for being unusual and lonely, but Leonard’s inner life reveals his deep pain and desperation for hope. Quick offers readers an empathic look at this would-be teenaged gunman, who, through a compassionate teacher, finds the path toward healing and connection.