Review Silver Linings Playbook Matthew Quick

The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am behind the 8 ball when it comes to the hype surrounding Silver Linings Playbook. When the movie came out and Oscar season created all the buzz surrounding it, I had no interest in seeing it. Finally, this summer after hearing from numerous friends that I should read the book, I caved. And, I really enjoyed it and then I saw the movie and I really didn't enjoy it. The movie differs from the book in to many ways that make the characters not as fully fleshed out and his relationship with Nikki seem even crazier, I just didn't care for it after reading the book.
Pat Peoples is a real relatable person - he has his highs and lows and his oddities, but it makes him fully fleshed out and relatable. Parts of his story were sad and heartbreaking and other parts were really funny, like his fear of Kenny G. His relationships were complex and real, I enjoyed how he related to his parents and how his parents related to one another. His brother, his friends, his doctor and Tiffany all had very real reactions to his disease and his dealings with it.
Pat People's believes everyone deserves a happy ending and he believes that if he changes his life and and improves himself he will win back his wife Nikki and get his happy ending. He loses weight, exercising constantly, he begins reading all the books his wife recommends to her English classes and he works on being a stand up man. He doesn't remember why he and Nikki are having apart time or why his family gets so weird when he talks about her - he just knows he will get his happy ending.
Tiffany has her own struggles but sees someone like herself in Pat, she offers him a trade, dance with her and she will coordinate communication between Nikki and him, in this all Pat sort of gets his happy ending, its just not what he expected.
This a quirky, fun, real read that I highly recommend.

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