Book review: The Silver Linings Playbook

The Silver Linings Playbook Author: Mathew Quick Published: 2008

Author Blurb:

Pat People's knows that life doesn't always go according to plan but he's determined to get his life back on track. After a stint in a psychiatric hospital, pat is staying with his parents and trying to live according to his new philosophy: get fit, be nice and always look for the silver lining. Most importantly, Pat is determined to be reconciled with his wife Nikki.

Pat's parents just want to protect him so that he can get back on his feet, but when Pat befriends the mysterious Tiffany, the secrets they've been keeping from him threaten to come out ...

Silver Linings Playbook is a bittersweet story of overcoming 'the bad place' and always looking for that 'silver lining'.

Written by Mathew Quick it follows the tale of Pat Peoples as he embarks on a journey of recovery and a new life philosophy - always look on the side of optimism and  for the Silver Linings within in any situation or scenario

Often said to have been written in the same style as The perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, it reminds the reader that even when you feel as though you have hit the bottom and have reached your lowest possible points there is always a silver lining you just need to be determined and prepared to look for it.

***

I initially found it hard to get my head around the fact that Pat was 30 years old. The writing style used by Quick and his dialogues made him appear much younger and even though you are told fairly early on of his age I couldn't shake the impression and image in my head of Pat as a young adult, in his late teens or early twenties.
However, this did not put me off and after continuing to turn the pages of this wonderful book I found the writing style and choices to actually be a really clever choice by Quick. It really gave me an impression of what Pat and his fraught mother, distant father and his friends, who offered various degrees of support, were really going through and how Pat's illness was affecting not only his life but also the lives of those around him. It also made me realise just how scared Pat really was of his situation and how this fear had caused him to become more childlike and dependent on his available support networks.

The story line really captured my attention and the approach that Mathew Quick used was  interesting and thought provoking. He was subtle and yet clearly introduced and explained to the reader how mental illness affects not only the person who is suffering from it (as many of the books that I have read on this topic do) but also the implications on other people's lives as well. The mother was terrified of upsetting Pat so swore the family to secrecy on an important family milestone, his father stopped talking to him and his friends became closer, more distant and wary all at the same time.
I feel as though this slightly alternative approach gave the book a fresher, and in some sense a more realistic feel which I really appreciated and enjoyed.

Although this story, about a very sensitive topic, is a work of fiction Quick is no stranger to changes in mental health and of being scared of slipping into 'the bad place'. He described himself as a 'depressed school teacher with a hankering to write.'

The Silver Linings Playbook not only, in a way, saved him but has also provided the literary (and now film) world with a brilliant story that I am proud to have sitting on my bookshelf.

Rating: 4/5