From the Bookshelf of BücherWelt & LeseRausch…

The Silver Linings Playbook

Matthew Quick

Start date: August 1, 2013

Finish date: August 20, 2013

Discussion leader: Nadine

Why we're reading this: Leserundenbuch

Teilnehmer:
Nadine
Literanie*
Anja (unter Vorbehalt ;-) )
Ann (unter Vorbehalt ;-) )
Markus
Birgi…more
[close] Leserundenbuch

Teilnehmer:
Nadine
Literanie*
Anja (unter Vorbehalt ;-) )
Ann (unter Vorbehalt ;-) )
Markus
Birgit

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What Members Thought

Aug 05, 2013 Millari rated it really liked it

I read this recently for my GR book club, and probably wouldn't have picked it up otherwise, but I have to say, I found it really engaging. Not amazing, but not at all a waste of my time either, and a sweet, quick read, if you're not going to be triggered by depictions of mental illness.

The book is about the return of Pat Peoples from a mental institution, where he has been for a few years. He is brought home by his mother, who more or less takes him out AMA, and lives with his parents, ostensi I read this recently for my GR book club, and probably wouldn't have picked it up otherwise, but I have to say, I found it really engaging. Not amazing, but not at all a waste of my time either, and a sweet, quick read, if you're not going to be triggered by depictions of mental illness.

The book is about the return of Pat Peoples from a mental institution, where he has been for a few years. He is brought home by his mother, who more or less takes him out AMA, and lives with his parents, ostensibly to get back on his feet. But it is soon hinted that whatever put Pat into the hospital was pretty intense and even criminal, so it's not like he can just easily go back to his old life and his ex-wife, who has taken out a restraining order on him for mysterious reasons. Despite that, he is obliviously determined to win his ex-wife Nikki back, and for much of the book, doesn't realize that she probably doesn't want him back. He obsessively works out and runs in anticipation of the day when "apart time" from Nikki will end and he can impress her and be a better husband for her. (It's implied that he was a bit of a pettily cruel and distant husband to her, not unlike his father is shown to be throughout most of the story.) He also blithely refuses to acknowledge that he and a similarly troubled young woman with whom he's made friends, are falling in love and are probably much more suited to each other than he and Nikki ever were.

The story is told exclusively Pat's point of view, which makes for an interesting challenge sometimes, because the reader needs to be told about things that Pat can't remember due to his unspecified mental problems and that his family won't talk about, and also his convictions about many aspects of the characters and the interpretations of the storylines are often just not trustworthy. But Quick manages to both dribble those details out throughout as an intriguing mystery, make it clear when Pat is deluding himself. This is not always an easy task to pull off; it's quite cleverly done.

Pat runs the gamut at times from being sweetly sympathetic to being absolutely frustrating in his earnest determination and utter cluelessness. What keeps the reader on his side is his absolute earnestness, even if it does easily fall into a sort of mildly autistic singlemindness in pursuit of something that the reader can see isn't likely to happen, and wouldn't be good for him anyway. Take for example, Pat's quest to woo his wife Nikki back, which he pursues despite her having taken a restraining order out on him, and his family having taken a restraining order out on her. He centers a big part of this quixotic plan on reading every novel Nikki uses with her high school English lit students, so that when Pat sees her again, she will be impressed that he is not an "illiterate bufoon" like her fellow teacher used to refer to him - yes, in front of her, and yes, she laughed at the time; it's a great anecdote Pat tells unwittingly that shows the reader glimpses of the real Nikki behind Pat's idealized vision of her. This is of course the sad, pathos part. But what's quite clever and engaging about the book too is the way that Quick documents Pat's reading of each book on the syllabus. The books are aptly symbolically-related to his situation - e.g. The Bell Jar, The Scarlett Letter, A Farewell to Arms. Also, Pat's reactions to how depressing the books are, and his worry for Nikki's students being exposed to such depressing stories at an impressionable age, is sweet, sad and even funny. He throws books across the room in sheer frustration at the characters' decision-making, much the way I as a reader got frustrated with Pat's decision-making. Pat's annoyance at Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale's choices, for example, mirrored the frustration I often had with Pat's.

I liked too how this is a story not only about Pat changing once he comes home from the mental institution to live with his family, but how Pat's arrival is a catalyst for change in many of the people around him - his mom and brother especially, who seem to have been living in stasis for years, thanks to the influence of the cold, distant and confusing patriarch of the family, whose only outlet of passion is not for his family, but for the Philadelphia Eagles.

The father was the one complaint I had about the book. He was almost a complete cipher and I delt the ache of wanting to know what made him tick besides his precious football team, and how he ever wooed Pat's mom into marrying him. But, you know, thinking about it now, it occurs to me that Quick probably left him that way because it puts the reader into Pat's position of wishing he could understand his dad and how to gain his approval. So maybe I don't really have a complaint there.

Anyway, it's a quick read you could easily finish in a weekend, with smart dialogue, compelling characters, and a central character who I rooted for, despite myself. ...more

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Apr 16, 2013 Evelyn rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Handlung
Pat wird von seiner Mutter aus der Psychiatrie abgeholt. Er ist gerade dabei, die Trennung von seiner Frau zu verkraften und aus medizinischer Sicht ist er noch lange nicht soweit, die Klinik zu verlassen. Durch einen Gerichtsbeschluss erwirkt seine Mutter jedoch einen positiven Bescheid und somit darf Pat die Koffer packen und zieht nun bei seinen Eltern ein.

Bei einem Abendessen im Haus seines Freundes Ronnie begegnet er dessen Schwägerin, Tiffany. Sie ist nymphoman veranlagt, verwitwet ...more

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May 01, 2016 Lisa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Ganz wichtig ist es hier, sich nicht vom Anfang des Romans stören zu lassen, der mich persönlich abgeschreckt und fast so weit gebracht hat, ihn abzubrechen. Wenn man sich aber einmal an Pats Stimme gewöhnt hat, kommt man ihm und seiner verzweifelten Sehnsucht nach Nikki immer näher, und irgendwann ist es wirklich schwer das Buch aus der Hand zu legen! Die Chemie zwischen Pat und Tiffany hat mir auch sehr gut gefallen. Das einzige, womit ich einfach nichts anfangen konnte, war diese exzessive Li ...more

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Oct 14, 2013 Jess rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-books, e-books, english-books

ich habe lange nicht mehr so ein Buch gelesen, dass mich wirklich gelangweilt hat. ab und zu schien es interessant zu werden, aber der American Football Teil war zu lang. Als Film wird diese Geschichte wohl ansehnlicher sein als das Buch.

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