Matthew Quick - Every Exquisite Thing

Copyright 2016 Matthew Quick

The right of Matthew Quick to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.

First published as an Ebook in Great Britain in 2016 by

Headline Publishing Group

All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library

eISBN: 978 1 4722 2953 3

HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUP

An Hachette UK Company

Carmelite House

50 Victoria Embankment

London EC4Y 0DZ

www.headline.co.uk

www.hachette.co.uk

Author photograph Alicia Bessette

Matthew Quick (aka Q) is the New York Times bestselling author of several novels, including THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, which was made into an Oscar-winning film. His work has been translated into thirty languages and has received a PEN/Hemingway Award Honorable Mention. Q lives with his wife, novelist/pianist Alicia Bessette, on North Carolinas Outer Banks.

Original, compelling, uplifting. Quick celebrates the power of ordinary, flawed human beings to rescue themselves and each other. His writing is shot through with wit and humanity and an ultimately optimistic view of people, without ever becoming sentimental Graeme Simsion, author of The Rosie Project

Beautiful... a first-rate work of art New York Times

Transfixed me from the opening line to the last Annabel Pitcher

Dark and intense yet funny: compelling stuff Fabulous

Very serious subjects handled with great sensitivity and a high dose of comedy. Brilliant Image

The most moving novel weve read in a long time... Funny and heartbreaking, this will leave a lasting impression Bella

A raw, devastating and very real offering Look

His emotionally raw tale retains a delicate sense of hope and optimism, making it a real gut punch of a read Publishers Weekly

Its impossible not to love each of these deeply flawed characters.... As funny as it is touching USA Today

Winningly madcap Entertainment Weekly

The Silver Linings Playbook

Sorta Like a Rockstar

Boy21

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock

The Good Luck of Right Now

Love May Fail

Eighteen-year-old Nanette OHare has played the role of dutiful daughter, hard-working student and loyal friend for as long as she can remember.

Then she reads a worn copy of out-of-print cult classic The Bubblegum Reaper and a spirit of rebellion awakens.

Yet as Nanette befriends the books reclusive author, falls in love with a troubled poet and attempts to assert herself with wild abandon, she realises there can be nothing so devastating as loneliness.

But in this world of endless potential and beauty, there is a place for each and every one of us. All we have to do is find it.

With his unique wisdom and insight, acclaimed author Matthew Quick depicts an unflinchingly human exploration of what it is to be on the cusp of adulthood and of the hope that can be found where we least expect it.

For the green bench near the creek

The last lunch period before Christmas break junior year, when I arrived at Mr. Gravess classroom, he was full of holiday cheer and smiling much more than usual. We had been eating alone together for months. But for that day, his wife had baked me a plate of Italian pizzelle cookies, which made me wonder what Mr. Graves had been telling her about me. The cookies looked like giant snowflakes and tasted like black licorice. We each had one, and then Mr. Graves handed me a small box wrapped in blue paper dotted with the white silhouettes of reindeer equipped with enormous antlers. I had never received a present from a teacher before. It seemed significant.

Just a little something from one cafeteria avoider to another, he said, and smiled.

I tore into the wrapping paper.

Inside was a paperback novel called The Bubblegum Reaper, written by Nigel Booker. The cover was taped to the spine, and the pages had yellowed. It smelled like an old camping tent that had remained slightly damp for fifty years. On the white front was one of those long Grim Reaper scythes with the curved blade at the top, only it was made entirely of rainbow-colored gumballslike someone had arranged them that way on white marble. The image was certainly weird. It both frightened and lured.

I opened the book to the first page.

The dedication read For the archery pit.

Bizarre, I thought.

I quickly flipped through the dog-eared pages and saw that someone had underlined hundreds of passages throughout.

I read that book when I was your age, and it changed my life, Mr. Graves said. Its out of print. Probably worth some money, but its just not the type of book you sell. I scanned the entire thing and made a digital file a long time ago. And I promised myself that Id pass my copy on to the right student whenever he or she came along. Its maybe not the most literary work in the world. Probably a bit dated. But its a cult classic and I have a feeling that it might be the perfect read for you. Maybe even a rite of passage for people like us. Anyway, Merry Christmas, Nanette OHare.

When I gave Mr. Graves a thank-you hug, he stiffened and said, No need for all that. Then he laughed nervously as he gently pushed me away.

His doing that made me angry at the time, but later I sort of got why he was being cautious. He saw what was coming before I did, because he was an adult and I was still a kid.

I began reading that night.

The Bubblegum Reaper is about a boy who identifies himself as Wrigley because hes addicted to Wrigleys Doublemint chewing gum. He says it calms his nerves, and he chews so furiously (and often) that he frequently gets jaw aches and even the occasional bout of lockjaw. He never tells you his real name as you follow him through a year of high school.

Wrigley mostly observes his classmates, whose company he doesnt enjoy, and talks about quitting all the time, only you really dont know what he wants to quit. I Googled the book and there are theories onlinewhole websites dedicated to answering the question. Some people think Wrigley wants to kill himself, thereby quitting the human race. Some believe he simply wants to drop out of school. Some people think Wrigleys talking about God and really wants to quit believing in a higher power, which Im not sure I get, because the narrator doesnt mention God even once. There are others who theorize that Wrigley wants to quit America and that the whole book is about communism, but again, Im not sure I believe that, either.

The problem is that Wrigley falls in love with one of two identical twin sisters named Lena and Stella Thatch, only he doesnt know which he loves. It happens because one of them likes to talk to this turtle that suns itself on a rock sticking out of the creek near the high school they attend. Wrigley names this turtle Unproductive Ted because it just sits on the rock all day long doing nothing but soaking up the sun. (I love that nickname so much: Unproductive Ted.) From behind an oak tree, Wrigley eavesdrops on the twin talking to Unproductive Ted about all her fears and worries and about something awful her father had done, but you never quite know for sure what that is. Whats certain is that this girl is on the verge of tears the whole time. Wrigley listens patiently to everything the girl needs to get out, and then once he shows himself and she realizes hes heard everything, Wrigley immediately tries to comfort the twin by saying, What you just said. All of it. I understand. I really do. I think the same thoughtswell, most of themtoo. Shes mad at first about the spying, but then she and Wrigley have this amazing talk about life and their school and how they cant be honest outside the woods and about just quitting.