Gowe 's Reviews > My Friend Leonard

** spoiler alert ** Before I dive in, I'll mention that following the questions to its authenticity as a memoir, I read this book as fiction.

I found this one pretty boring, I'm afraid. It's my first book by James Frey, so I'm new to his style of writing, but the punctuation and talk-style (don't know the 'official' name for it) writing quite bugs me.

It started out good, I thought. With the first few chapters having a significant death, but then after that I didn't feel like anything new was added to the plot. It did show that there's hope for everyone, a message I appreciated in how James got his life together after prison and rehab, a thing not too many people manage to do. I appreciated that immensely.

I, however, found it all redundant. We get it, you and Leonard are close, Leonard is shady. Also, the ending felt rather forced to me. That sudden 'plot twist'. There was no groundwork put down for Leonard being gay, and the only 'signs' James mentions are liking white and enjoying fashion? What? I felt like it was thrown in far too hastily.

I may sample a bit more of James Frey to see whether the style is the same in all his books, so if you read this and think there's something by him I should check out, please point me in that direction :)