Book Review: The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

Star Rating: 3/5
Title: The Silver Linings Playbook
Author: Matthew Quick
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Genre: Humorous Fiction
Where To Buy: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Thriftbooks

Synopsis:

Meet Pat. Pat has a theory: his life is a movie produced by God. And his God-given mission is to become physically fit and emotionally literate, whereupon God will ensure a happy ending for him -- the return of his estranged wife Nikki. (It might not come as a surprise to learn that Pat has spent time in a mental health facility.) The problem is, Pat's now home, and everything feels off. No one will talk to him about Nikki; his beloved Philadelphia Eagles keep losing; he's being pursued by the deeply odd Tiffany; his new therapist seems to recommend adultery as a form of therapy. Plus, he's being hunted by Kenny G!

    Okay first things first, I watched the movie before I read this book and that's why my rating is low. I LOVED the movie, but the book, not so much. It starts off with Pat Peoples in the mental hospital, he is in here because he keeps a memory in his head that his wife Nikki will get back together with him. She cheated on him, Pat walked in on Nikki and the history teacher from the same school he worked at, in the shower together. He also heard a specific song playing on the stereo, his and Nikki's wedding song as he walked in. He got very upset and beat the teacher up, Nikki and the teacher put a restraining order on Pat because of this. Pat doesn't obey this restraining order at all, he is always trying to find Nikki and make their marriage better again. Whenever Pat hears the song, he breaks down and starts punching and destroying things because it brings back this memory.  

    Pat also tries to exercise, and get fit to try and Woo Nikki, as he is running he passes his friend, Ronnie's house. Ronnie invites him for dinner that night as a celebration for his homecoming, knowing that his wife, Veronica hates Pat for hurting Nikki. While Pat is at dinner he meets Tiffany, Veronica's sister. Tiffany also has mental issues like Pat, she is quiet at times but speaks her mind when she needs to. Pat finds out that Tiffany knows Nikki and she can help Pat send a letter of explanation to her. In order to do this however, Pat needs to do something for Tiffany, he needs to be her partner in a dance competition. Throughout the book you get to read about Tiffany teaching Pat how to dance and you also get to see their relationship develop a lot more.

    I loved Tiffany's character in the book and in the movie, I loved her in the book more after finding out that Jennifer Lawrence plays her character in the movie. There were some times where I laughed in the book and the movie. The issue I had with this book was that the sports part was boring. Pat and his brother, and therapist love football and attend a game in the book where Pat runs into trouble after a fight ensues. 

The sports bored me to death and made the book drag on, and because I watched the movie before reading the book it caused me to find many differences that I didn't like. I regret my choice to watch the movie before reading the book because it made me dislike it. Other than the frequent and drastic changes in this book, I enjoyed Matthew Quick's writing style. I loved the writing in the book, and I loved Tiffany's character as well as Pat's, both characters are very easy to relate to. I'd recommend this book to anyone, it was great and the writing was great as well, great debut novel for Matthew Quick as it is now a major motion picture!