The Silver Linings Playbook in Ask Matthew Quick!

Mar 01, 2013 Taughnee Golubović rated it liked it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This was a fast and mostly entertaining read, I'd recommend it for airplane reading for sure. But, I had many problems with it...

Starting with: the book spoilers! UGH! Gatsby, Scarlet Letter, Catcher in the Rye... the list of spoilers was huge, and I found that to be presumptuous and rude on the author's part. I guess there was some over-arching reason for it having to do with "silver linings" or "happy endings" or whatever, but it could have been handled so much better, e.g., inviting us to dis This was a fast and mostly entertaining read, I'd recommend it for airplane reading for sure. But, I had many problems with it...

Starting with: the book spoilers! UGH! Gatsby, Scarlet Letter, Catcher in the Rye... the list of spoilers was huge, and I found that to be presumptuous and rude on the author's part. I guess there was some over-arching reason for it having to do with "silver linings" or "happy endings" or whatever, but it could have been handled so much better, e.g., inviting us to discover for ourselves what happens in those books rather than hitting us over the head with what happens.

Then on to the narrator, Pat, who is suffering from a mental illness of some kind--the author doesn't make it clear, but somewhere along the way I read or heard he was bipolar so I was stuck for most of the book trying to reconcile his bizarrely infantile reactions and inner dialogue with what I know about bipolar disorder and the people I am close to who have it. I would have enjoyed this book more if that wasn't happening but I'm not sure that's the author's fault.

Later, I felt better once it was revealed why he was sent to the mental health facility-- ooooh, a brain injury, that makes a lot more sense. (That's probably not even what happened lol but it helped me get unstuck.) Then I relaxed into the final pages and was pleasantly surprised that it came back around for me.

There was a LOT of football chanting and even as a football fan, I found it to be TOO.MUCH.ALREADY. These people really need better communication and coping skills all around if the only thing they can share is football, the only thing they can say to each other is E-A-G-L-E-S!

Weird.

Toward the end, I loved learning more about Tiffany, and seeing Pat's transformation and evolution. Life's like that--bad things happen to us and if we're lucky, we turn a corner and accept things, make peace with them, and carry on.

I wish there would have been more TIFFANY and less EAGLES! and either more hints about what he was suffering from early on or a less childlike voice ... but in the end, I enjoyed the book.
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Feb 09, 2013 Ivan rated it really liked it

Los juegos del destino
Matthew Quick

“Debes saber que son tus acciones, y no tus deseos, lo que te convertirán en una buena persona”

El libro es duda alguna uno para sentirte positivo. Llegué a él tras ver la película en el cine, la cual me gustó bastante y me llevó a comprar el libro en la primera oportunidad que tuve de verlo. Sin duda alguna todo un acierto.

Este es un libro que por medio de su narrador y personaje principal, Patrick “Pat” Peoples, nos invita a acompañarlo en su búsqueda incansa Los juegos del destino
Matthew Quick

“Debes saber que son tus acciones, y no tus deseos, lo que te convertirán en una buena persona”

El libro es duda alguna uno para sentirte positivo. Llegué a él tras ver la película en el cine, la cual me gustó bastante y me llevó a comprar el libro en la primera oportunidad que tuve de verlo. Sin duda alguna todo un acierto.

Este es un libro que por medio de su narrador y personaje principal, Patrick “Pat” Peoples, nos invita a acompañarlo en su búsqueda incansable e imperturbable de su esposa, a la cual hace un tiempo que no ve pues estaba encerrado en el “lugar malo”. Siempre con un rápido giro en la perspectiva de las cosas, Pat nos cuestiona el por qué permitirnos hacer, decir o sentir algo, cuando lo único a lo que adoptar esa actitud nos llevará es a la infelicidad.

El recorrido de Pat hacia el inevitable encuentro con Nikki, su mujer, funge en cierto modo como una metáfora de la búsqueda de la felicidad, aunque ésta pueda significar a su vez la imposibilidad de cerrar ciclos en nuestras vidas, quedándonos varados en el Pequod a manos del impredecible Ahab. ¿Hasta qué punto nos cegamos a las posibilidades de la vida? y ¿cuál es la posición que tomamos con respecto a lo que en ella sucede?

La narración de la historia es sencilla, rápida y divertida; con personajes fuera de serie, que van desde un “amigo negro” con más de una frase digna de citarse, pasando por un psicólogo fuera de serie, hasta un padre adusto cuyas emociones están fuera de su control.

Pienso que otra intensión, sino que la principal, es generar una cierta empatía hacia el otro. Apreciar el otro lado de la moneda, entrar dentro de esa casa extraña al final de la calle, de la cual todo se habla y nada se sabe, ¿dónde es que reside la locura? y ¿quiénes somos para juzgar al otro sin conocer los motivos y circunstancias que lo llevaron a desenvolverse de esa manera? Con esto no digo que tengamos que darnos el tiempo para conocer a todo el que atraviesa por nuestro camino, con suerte llegaremos a conocernos lo suficiente a nosotros mismos, sino la propuesta a dejar de preocuparnos tanto por la vida de los otros y ocuparnos en ir en búsqueda de la Nikki que todos tenemos en la mente, sin perder de vista todo aquello a nuestro alrededor.

Una última recomendación personal: Sería bueno que leyeran el libro antes de ver la película (que por cierto llevan al mismo fin pero son realmente dos historias muy diferentes) para que así puedan tener la experiencia completa intentada por el autor y disfrutar aún más de la película al conocer mejor la historia detrás de sus protagonistas.

“Creo que lo único que hace falta para que gente distinta se lleve bien es un interés común y unas cervezas”
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Feb 18, 2013 MaryAnn rated it liked it

The book was not the movie and the movie was not the book. I'm concerned that anyone who seeks out either for enlightenment or education about mental health conditions will come away ill informed. There were flashes of brilliance in both media but those flashes had to light up a lot of "stuff".

Not a satisfying read.

A week or so later:

Sometimes reflection deepens your perception of what a book meant to you. And this is a case in point. The book and the movie are never the same, they are different ...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Faith Jones rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

I can't believe it, but I am exactly quite emotional that I have finished this rare gem of a book. Author Matthew Quick, knows how to write from the perspective of someone with a broken mind, and cannot accept reality so well, you don't feel the main character Pat, is a freak or weird at all. The book is so Relatable, it would be a surprise if Quick didn't suffer some of these problems himself. I honestly want to thank Matthew Quick, for writing this book. Pat became the only friend I had while ...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Melyssa rated it really liked it

If a movie is based on a book, I usually read the book first. I was unaware of this novel until I saw the movie version, so it was an atypical experience to read after seeing the movie.

The book has a darker, more serious tone than the movie. There are enough differences between this and the movie version that it was still a good read. The main character's emotional struggles are perhaps more meaningful in the book, since these elements were played for laughs in the movie. I couldn't help but co ...more

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Feb 24, 2013 Jill Roberts rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audio-version, loved-it

Utterly Charming. Beautifully written and full of emotion, Matthew Quick pulls you in and find yourself not wanting it to end. I haven't seen the movie, (I tend to read the book if possible before) but am now looking forward to it! ...more

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Mar 05, 2013 Kristina rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2013, books-turned-into-movies

I don't think I've ever seen a movie and THEN read the book until now. I wish I had read this book before I saw the movie (which I loved, but would have loved even more had I read first). ...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Samantha Adkins rated it really liked it

A quick, enjoyable read filled with charming characters. Interesting observations on mental health. I love all the mini book reviews within the book:)

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