Joe's review
The Silver Linings Playbook: A Novel by Matthew Quick
Our protagonist is coping with mental illness and a traumatic brain injury. He has huge, multi-year gaps in his memory.
Meanwhile, the story is set against the Philadelphia Eagles 2006 season (the season appeared over when quarterback Donovan McNabb was injured, but backup QB Jeff Garcia stepped up to take the Eagles to the playoffs.) I remembered quite a bit of the details.
It dawned on me that this book had an unreliable narrator, and yet I was an omniscient reader, knowing very well what was going to happen during the game against the Dallas Cowboys on Christmas Day.
Like others, I loved the relentless optimism of the book, and the Eagles adoration. I admit that I am a better, kinder parent when the Phillies win, so I cannot judge the characters in the story for their slavish devotion to the Birds. I was surprised by some of the hooks of the story, even though they were looming in the foreground if I'd been looking for them, but because I was distracted by the characters...more
Meanwhile, the story is set against the Philadelphia Eagles 2006 season (the season appeared over when quarterback Donovan McNabb was injured, but backup QB Jeff Garcia stepped up to take the Eagles to the playoffs.) I remembered quite a bit of the details.
It dawned on me that this book had an unreliable narrator, and yet I was an omniscient reader, knowing very well what was going to happen during the game against the Dallas Cowboys on Christmas Day.
Like others, I loved the relentless optimism of the book, and the Eagles adoration. I admit that I am a better, kinder parent when the Phillies win, so I cannot judge the characters in the story for their slavish devotion to the Birds. I was surprised by some of the hooks of the story, even though they were looming in the foreground if I'd been looking for them, but because I was distracted by the characters...more
