MY FRIEND LEONARD
BY : James Frey
"My Friend Leonard" Book Trailer
My Friend Leonard is about a frail, solitary man named James. The story begins when James is released from the Ohio County Jail. James heads back to Chicago to see his girlfriend Lily. He must comfort her because her Grandmother had past away. Once he gets to the halfway house he finds out that she had hung herself. James becomes really depressed with the shocking news, which drives him to only talk to his friend Leonard. James met Leonard at rehab, where he also met Lily. Leonard teaches James to enjoy life, sober, for the first time. He instructs him in the art of "living boldly," pushes him to pursue his passion for writing, and provides a watchful and supportive veil of protection under which James can get his life together. However, James ends up asking Leonard for $30,000. Leonard agrees to give James the money, and he uses the money to bury Lily and her grandmother. Months began to go by as James and Leonard build this "father-son" relationship. On one specific night Leonard takes James and his friends to dinner, but something strange starts to happen. Leonard does not continue to call James anymore and when James calls him he gets no answer. After the dinner, this began an eighteen month period where he would not speak to James. However, James continues to search for Leonard by constantly stopping pass his old home. One lucky day he knocks and a doctor opens the door. Leonard and James start talking and Leonard expresses that he is diagnosed with a.i.d.s. Leonard ends the conversation by clarifying that he is in to much pain and wishes to have a peaceful death. Throughout the rest of the novel James has to grow through some depression, loneliness, and distress.