Silver Linings Playbook: Reviews By 2015 Reading Challengers

[Jodi]

Tell us what you thought of the book! You can leave your review here. Even if you read the book outside of the group, please feel free to let us know what you thought of it.

Please make sure to mark your spoilers by typing "[spoiler]" at the start and [/spoiler] at the end but replacing the []s with <>s.

[joanne kwan]

What a happy ending! I am glad that Pat finally realize that he needed Tiffany also! Overall a good book and it make me want to watch the movie now!

[Berit]

***** I absolutely loved this book! It is one of those books you just feel good about And you can't really put your finger on why you did.going to watch the movie as well, did not picture the actors that played the roles as these characters at all, so that should be interesting.

[Megan BG]

I was surprised at how easy it was to read and how quickly I finished it! I'm glad this was picked for the group read!

[Stephanie (Chinchillita)]

The Silver Linings Playbook ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
I enjoyed the Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick. It had a similar feel to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time in that the main character, Pat Peoples, has a mental handicap. (view spoiler)[The book opens as the main characters mother is checking him out of a mental hospital after a 4 year stay that was a result of a mysterious mental breakdown that had something to do what happened between Pat and his wife, Nikki. The readers are not aware of the incident as Pat, himself, cannot remember. During his time at the hospital, Pat begins looking for the silver lining to every cloud. He believes whole-heartedly that if he works on bettering himself inside and out, he will be reunited with his wife.

This book was very different from the movie that came out a few years ago. Many of the drastic changes was Pat’s last name was changed, he was only in the hospital for 8 months, Tiffany’s dance competition became a real, judged event, Pat is reluctant to spend time with his father, and the biggest, Pat has a chance to actually talk to Nikki. I feel like all the changes that were made the screen play were positive changes for the movie. This is one of those rare cases where I love both the movie and book and can respect the changes that were made.

One of my favorite aspects of the book that wasn't captured as well in the movie was the relationships developed by Pat with his brother and therapist. I felt like the greatest healing and growth that Pat accomplished was not with Tiffany, as it was portrayed in the movie, but with his brother’s acceptance and his therapist showing him that people are complex and there is no black or white definition when it comes to understanding people.

I loved Pat’s brother. The concern he expressed while easing Pat into the present was done with love and gentleness. Because how long Pat spent in the hospital, he never realized that his brother met and married lovely woman. This information was hidden from Pat at the beginning of his release because of all the changes that were going on. His family was concerned with overwhelming him with the fact that their lives continued while Pat’s was very much halted. As for Pat’s therapist, I like how he proves to Pat that he can be a friend and his therapist. At the beginning of his sessions, he tells Pat that he is only his therapist as long as he’s in his office chair. When he isn’t sitting, he is a fellow Eagles fan. As fate would have it, Pat and his therapist bump into each other during a tailgating event before a game and this helps solidify the fact that people more complex creatures than Pat realizes. I felt that Pat witnessing his therapist separating his work and social life that it helps him make peace with the events that led to his time in the hospital.

Eventually he remembers the events that lead to “apart time.” How he nearly killed his wife’s lover when he found the two of them in the shower. Although he’s said throughout the book he was a bad husband, he always meant it in a way that he didn’t know anything about the books that his wife liked or how he had gotten out of shape. They were things that he could control and change. So he spent all his time fixing just those aspects of his life. I think that seeing the person his therapist was outside of sessions, having fun at football games, was so different from the person who was in the chair helped him come to terms people are more than they seem.

The one thing about this book that really irritated me was that the endings of several classic novels were spoiled, especially since The Bell Jar was one of those. It’s been a book that has been on my ‘to read’ for a while, but hadn’t gotten around to it just yet. Pat’s wife is an English teacher at a high school and Pat decided to read through her syllabus to make himself more literate and to express to his wife that he is willing to take an interest in the things she likes. However, he has a hard time understanding why his wife is teaching her students from depressing novels like, The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, and a Farewell to Arms. Because Pat cannot find the silver lining in any of these stories, he has a hard time understanding why his wife would force such depressing books on her students.

I loved the ending to the book. We, the readers, don’t actually know if Pat ends up forgiving Tiffany for the deception she created. It’s the ultimate silver lining and, I feel, the heart of the book. It doesn't matter what actually happens once we run out of pages, as long as we believe that Pat and Tiffany find happiness and peace. (hide spoiler)]

I feel like my review was influenced by the movie and the book and although I don't think it will ever be considered a classic novel, I give it 5 stars because I really enjoyed Pat's voice in the book, how he comes to accept where he has landed in life, and the hope we are left with at the end.

[JoJo]

I really like your review stephanie :)

[Stephanie (Chinchillita)]

Thank you Joanne!

[Dominique]

I saw the movie first (didn`t know it was a book) and both I really loved. While reading the book I had all the actors in my head and it made me enjoy it more. Pat was just a great character.

[Kara]

Four stars from me

Here's my review:

I liked this a ton better than the movie. And now I'm going into why which contains some indirect spoilers about the endings of both the movie and the book. (view spoiler)[The movie implies that love conquers all, that all you need for mental illness to go away is someone who loves you. I had assumed it got the ending from the book and was pleasantly surprised to find that not the case. I found this ending much more palatable and realistic. (hide spoiler)]

Moving on.

This was a very quick read: I finished it in two sittings. It was different enough from the movie that I wasn't always sure what was going to happen next. The movie was fairly lighthearted, considering its content, and while this was certainly a light book in tone, the content felt much more weighty.

Those disappointed in the somewhat silliness of the movie might enjoy this.

[Cassandra]

I gave this one four stars. Here's what I wrote about it:

The Silver Linings Playbook is a poignant and funny tale of a man who has recently been released from a mental institution and his quest to get his wife back. Nothing is quite as he expected it, and his family is being evasive about his wife and what has happened while he was in the institution. Pat is a likable character, and I found it easy to see the world through his eyes. About halfway through, I realized that the book is a fairly serious look at mental illness, and I think it's important to realize that people like Pat have valid experiences, ideas, and emotions. They just experience the world in a different way and have to deal with things that many of us never have to think about, and reading this book from that first-person perspective helped me understand that. This was a fast read, and it has humor, but I don't think of it as a lighthearted or lightweight book.

I don't think I would have read this one if it wasn't a group read, so I'm glad it got chosen.

[Berit]

Cassandra, I like your review, you had a lot of really good points. I keep thinking was it all mental illness, or was there a little bit of a brain injury? I thought putting a lighter spin on a heavy topic, made it more understandable or perhaps relatable..

[Vernice]

5 STARS

I just loved this book so much that I'm finding it difficult to organize my thoughts and actually get a review down.

I saw the movie first as well, not realizing that it was a book first, but where I would normally read the book first, I'm actually glad that I watched the movie first, as I had faces to put to the names. I think the book was ultimately better than the movie (as usual), but it was close enough so that I didn't feel like it was two completely separate stories.

I wasn't sure at first whether I would like the book because the way it was written (almost childish) isn't something that I would normally go for, but in this case it only took me a couple of pages to come around to it and actually really enjoy it. It gives you a feel (possibly) for what it's like to be inside the mind of a mental patient, to kind of know what they think like. I don't think the writer has any mental issues though, so I'm probably wrong... still it was written powerfully.

I like a happy ending as much as the next person, but I'm a realist, and as such I enjoyed the ending to this book so much more!

Had a huge book hangover after finishing this one... definitely made it onto my favorites list!

[Karen]

Loved reading this, I couldn't put it down!

[ReGina]

I gave this four stars.

So, I read this for Book Club, which means for the seventh time in the past year, I have broken my vow to not read a book and see the movie. However, I oddly saw this movie before I read the book (which is only the second time ever that has happened). While I enjoyed them both, I constantly compared the two while I was reading and kept being thrown by structural changes (this is yet another reason why I don't do this). So, it's very difficult to review this book solely on the book, but I'm going to try.

This book follows the story of Pat Peoples upon his release from a mental institution. His sole goal is to improve himself so that "apart time" can end with his estranged wife Nikki. He then meets Tiffany, his best friend's sister-in-law, who is suffering through mental health challenges of her own. I hate spoilers, so I will leave it there as to what actually happens. I did, however, enjoy the simplicity of the words and the story since they are Pat's words and we are in Pat's head the majority of the time. I'm also going to ask my brother to read this book because I need to know if the "dedication" to football in the story is the extreme exaggerated or he would find this relatively normal for "true fans." This is not the deepest book you will ever read, but it's not intended to be. This is one man's journey and you're just following his story. He's not particularly deep, so it stands to reason his story wouldn't be either. But he is interesting and true, which is what makes this an enjoyable read.

One note about the book and the movie (and I don't feel this is a spoiler): in the movie, Pat's father seems to struggle with OCD issues in relationship to the Eagles games, which seems to align with some of Pat's issues; I thought that was an interesting twist. In the book, Pat's dad has some rituals around the game but it's far more about him just being an ass. And those both play out very differently for how I interpret the mother's behavior. It's also the structural change I was least prepared for (that, and how long Pat had been in the mental institution). I'd love to hear others thoughts on book/movie comparison.

So, in final review - read it but don't expect Nobel Prize literature.

[CMG (Mac)]

I read the book in audio about a year ago. I loved it - one of my favorites. Very unique. Thought the dancing thing was a little out there but overall it made for a good story.

Once the book was picked for March, I decided to see the movie finally. The book is much better. The movie is also very different from the book on key points.

I really liked Cliff, the psychiatrist. I liked the idea of looking for and believing in silver linings.

I definitely thought it was mental illness, not brain injury but that is an interesting thought; new perspective.