The Silver Lining Playbook

[Ashley]

Such an amazing book and movie. Both really, really well done even though they differ in a few ways. Definitely recommend reading this to anyone!

[Erica]

this is the first book I have ever read and watched after. and It made me really disappointed as it is totally different from the book. the order of events were totally off. Then there's Nikki, she never showed up in the book.

If the book didn't exist, I'd love the story a hundred percent. But then since it was based on a book I was expecting a close resemblance. I love how the book ended. But I admit the movie ended well too.

good thing i read the book first. i would still recommend this with my book buddies.

[Nicholas]

I must read this already got it in ebook

[Ambs ❤❤]

This was a simple read with so much emotion packed into it's pages, that I was somewhat surprised at how much I loved this book. I knew I would like it after I first started reading it, but the more I read it, the more I fell in love with the raw honesty of it.

With that said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would, and most likely will, recommend this book.

I have yet to see the movie, which I too am excited about now that I truly know the story.

[Heidi]

I kind of thought this book was pretty eh. The story was pretty predictable. I haven't seen the movie yet but I've heard it's really different than the book.

[Natalie]

Loved it! Couldn't put it down. Loved the zaney characters. Great writing!

[Lauren]

I dont know which I like better, the movie or the Book. Normally the obvious answer would be the book. As of late I have found that If I read the book after I watch the movie, I am able to have more of an appreciation for both works. By reading the book first, you are introduced to the characters as they are portrayed in your mind and are thrown into a setting that you paint with your imagination. Nothing can ever measure up to that. So when you watch the movie after, there is a disappointment because it doesnt match up to the pre-existing sentiment that was created by reading the novel.

But back to the BOTM :-) (sorry about the tangent)

I think the book is a cleaner perspective into the mindset of the main character. You are able to understand the internal struggle that he is facing everyday. While this book was an easy read, I thought that the character development and overall writing was well done. You can picture the streets as he's running and feel the exhilaration that the characters feel during the football games.

I would reccommend this book, most definately. (although it seems like one of those books that you either love or hate)

[Andreea]

I'm a little late but I just got this book.quite excited to read it

[Heather]

I loved this book, I couldn't put it down and was so struck by the characters. I thought I would love the movie as much, but I hated it and couldn't even finish watching it. Once again very glad that I read the book before seeing the movie.

[Maggie]

Just finished Silver Linings Playbook, really liked it. I saw the movie a few weeks ago, I enjoyed it too. Book and movie are very different from each other. I'm not sure why but wasn't expecting to like either, glad I was pleasantly surprised.

[Coco]

fabulous book. I love that you get to know the characters so well

[Nicholas]

nice book abt mental health and love

[Mochaspresso]

I thought the movie was excellent. Bradley Cooper is amazing in his role. I'm in the process of reading the book now (57%) and while I think it is really good, I think the movie might actually be better. As I'm reading, I don't really visualize Bradley Cooper as Pat, but I think that is because Pat's voice comes across as so childlike in the book. It's hard to remember that he's a former history teacher in his 30's. Btw, isn't it weird that a former history teacher wouldn't have read some of the classic books that Nikki used to encourage him to read?

I do notice that there are a lot of differences between the book and movie. For example, "the black friend Danny" seems to have a bigger role in the movie than he does in the books. In the books, so far he's only been mentioned a few times by Pat in passing. He hasn't actually appeared yet. So, I'm guessing that the whole hilarious bit about Danny lying to Pat's Mom to sneak out of the mental hospital was added to the movie and never actually happened in the book.

I also think the movie changed all of the main characters' mental issues into things that were probably simpler for a more general audience to understand. In the movie, Pat is bipolar and seems to know and understand what his problem is and why he was institutionalized. He's still delusional about his relationship with Nikki, but he's not as confused about other things as he is in the books. In the books, it's not really clear to me what exactly is wrong with Pat. The meds and the hallucinations and the memory loss suggest that there might be something else going on too. In the books, Pat doesn't seem to know or remember why he was sent to "the bad place" in the first place or realize how long he'd been there. The movie also clearly gave Pat's father a gambling addiction, ocd and anger management issues. Robert Deniro was amazing as Pat's father, btw. In the books, Pat's Dad barely even speaks to Pat at all. He seems much more closed off in the books. His character is totally different. Pat's relationship with Tiffany is different too. They talk and actually interact more in the movie. In the books, they don't talk much at all.

[Mochaspresso]

btw, where is Nikki in the books? I know that I'm not finished reading it yet and it might be revealed later.....but so far, Pat's delusions paired with his family's attempts to erase anything related to her give the impression that he might of killed her and blocked it out. Is that what really happened to her and to Pat in the books? I guess I have to keep reading.

[Renata]

I came into this book having no information about it. I knew there was a award winning movie made from it but that was about it. So I really had no idea what I was reading.

As a whole I really enjoyed the book. It was a very different read for me since it really isn't a genre I tend to gravitate toward.

The characters were great, though I kept waiting for us to finally find out what happened to Pat and when we finally did it felt a little flat to me. Mainly because we never did find out what his illness was. It seemed such a minor thing. I was expecting something huge since it sucked up years of his life.

I enjoyed the various relationships Pat had with his family/peers. Though I did love the relationship between him and his psychiatrist, it seems very far fetched that the relationship would ever get to that point.

So of course after finishing the book I had to go watch the movie. The movie, while good, really disappointed me. There were parts of the movie that I was glad I had read the book because I would have been lost otherwise. There was a couple of occasions where my husband had to ask me if I had insight because he couldn't figure out what was going on.

Though I understand they felt they had to humanize the father to make him likable, I really did not like the father in the movie. Though they had the perfect casting for him. The minute I saw Deniro was playing the father I was excited, only to find out he wasn't the father from the book.

[Christiana]

Loved the book, the movie was great too, but I felt that the book was so much better.
Even though sometimes you can see that the author didn't have any experience with a psychiatrist, or made small mistakes throughout the book, I enjoyed reading it!

[Mochaspresso]

Renata wrote: "I came into this book having no information about it. I knew there was a award winning movie made from it but that was about it. So I really had no idea what I was reading.

As a whole I really en..."

I think the book did explain what Pat's illness was. It was in a round about way with a series of revelations that you have to piece together, but "the bad place" was some type of (view spoiler)[ rehabilitation center for people with traumatic brain injuries. Danny, his black friend, suffered an injury when someone tried to kill him and dumped his body in the river. Pat suffered his injury when he walked in on Nikki in the shower with another man. He attacked the other man and Nikki hit him over the head with something and he fell and hit his head again on the faucet. (hide spoiler)]

[Crystal]

I just read the book (I know a little late, but I'm on library time and had to wait for it to come in) and I really enjoyed reading it. I especially liked the way in which it was narrated, because after a little while you can start to believe that Pat is normal, until Kenny G pops up, or he starts talking about apart time. It could be repetitive at times, but it was done the way Pat's mind works.

I just really liked it and I am happy it was a BOTM or I may have never found it on my own.