The Silver Linings Playbook - Matthew Quick

The Silver Linings Playbook

By Matthew Quick

  • Release Date: 2010-04-27
  • Genre: Literary Fiction
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 3,236 Ratings

Description

A New York Times bestseller, The Silver Linings Playbook was adapted into the Oscar-winning movie starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. It tells the riotous and poignant story of how one man regains his memory and comes to terms with the magnitude of his wife's betrayal.

During the years he spends in a neural health facility, Pat Peoples formulates a theory about silver linings: he believes his life is a movie produced by God, his mission is to become physically fit and emotionally supportive, and his happy ending will be the return of his estranged wife, Nikki. When Pat goes to live with his parents, everything seems changed: no one will talk to him about Nikki; his old friends are saddled with families; the Philadelphia Eagles keep losing, making his father moody; and his new therapist seems to be recommending adultery as a form of therapy.

When Pat meets the tragically widowed and clinically depressed Tiffany, she offers to act as a liaison between him and his wife, if only he will give up watching football, agree to perform in this year's Dance Away Depression competition, and promise not to tell anyone about their "contract." All the while, Pat keeps searching for his silver lining.

In this brilliantly written debut novel, Matthew Quick takes us inside Pat's mind, deftly showing us the world from his distorted yet endearing perspective. The result is a touching and funny story that helps us look at both depression and love in a wonderfully refreshing way.

Reviews

  • My thoughts

    5
    By Dhillon91
    Wonderful writing, even better then the movie
  • Gave me so many laughs and hopes

    5
    By meow_shanshan
    Really a nice novel. I love Tiffany’s characteristics...brave and kind people deserve silver linings!
  • Captivating + Mesmerizing

    5
    By native cali chic
    This book is a complete work of art and heart for illustrating the real life struggles those who suffer from mental illness have to endure, as well as how it personally effects their support system. Such a lovely novel worthy of all its success and its prose is absolutely easy to get lost in.
  • So much better than the movie.

    5
    By RiccoV
    Don't get me wrong. I loved the movie, but the time inside Pat's thoughts gives so much more depth to the experience.
  • Silver Linings Playbook

    5
    By Timothy Gellar
    It differs greatly from the movie and as a result anyone looking for a carbon copy of the book, its story and characters are going to be disappointed; additionally many may not like it based on how overly-quirky the story is and how oddball the characters tend to be. Understanding all of these complaints the purpose of the book stands irrelevant to them. The book and its story and writing seems to have more ADHD than its main character, Pat, who struggles with bipolar disorder after being divorced by his wife due to her cheating on him and him responding with abuse to the man she had an affair with. Pat meets Tiffany, a girl whose husband died who has just as many issues but doesn't have the past of living in a mental institution to prove it. These two, their crazy mental disorders, their love, and the crazy disorders and problems with the rest of their family and their friends really work. You understand and feel for each one of these characters and they are absolutely incoherent to their own personalities but you nonetheless love and care for them as though they're friends of yours. It may all be a little odd and weird and strangely awkward, but it still makes a strange bit of sense in a genuine and sentimental way. The ending pays off for all of this and when you look back and begin to think on it, it begins to seem better and better. It's a quick read and while no one can be guaranteed they'll love it, I can at least guarantee no one will regret reading it.
  • I love this book so much

    5
    By G0dzilla101
    This book is amazing, I can't stop reading it, I finished it within a week because I couldn't stop reading it. 5 stars all the way
  • Great read...

    5
    By Joe Amora
    I like the movie so I thought I would read the book to see if they stayed true to it. For the most part, they did. However, I liked the movie better. I think that is because I saw it first. When I read a book before I see the movie, I find that to be the other way around. But all in all, it really is a great read and a well constructed book that keeps you turning pages until you can't turn anymore...
  • Best book ever

    5
    By Jadentodd12398
    This book is a great read. I started and finished it in one day. Totally recommend.
  • Realistic Fiction

    5
    By The K-Pub
    I’ve never read a novel so true to life as The Silver Linings Playbook. Most novels attracted me with a few chapters I could enjoy but then the story just played out into a stupid fantasy that would never happen in real life. I think most guys could relate to Pat People’s life story, and that’s something nearly every book can’t say of their own main character (becuase their embellished to create a story; as if there aren’t stories to be told similar to real life). This is the type of book I’d recommend to anyone that’s ready to read a book about life.
  • Loved it!

    5
    By jessdigg
    Makes you realize that the ideas you have in your head about something usually is not reality. But perhaps, it's something even better than what you think or assume.