A silver lining awaits

The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

As I recently devoured Matthew Quick’s debut novel I kept thinking ‘this book would make a great movie’. Come to find out, David O Russell (director of film ‘The Fighter’) was thinking along the same lines. A film by the same title and based on the book will be out in the theatres this Thanksgiving. This story is engaging and Matthew Quick has created a loveable and quirky (although troubled) main character, Pat Peoples.

Pat has recently been released from ‘the bad place’ – a mental institution where he believes he has spent the last few months. Upon his release, he goes to live with his parents where he attempts to place the pieces of his broken life back into place. He eventually discovers that those ‘few months’ in the mental institution was in actuality four years. In that time, his wife Nikki has sued for divorce and has placed a restraining order against him. Pat is certain that if he can arrange a meeting with Nikki, he can persuade her that he is well, no longer poses a physical threat, and additionally impress her with the fact that he has finally read several literary classics that she, an English teacher, had always wished he would read. Pat's theory is if this happens, a blissful reconciliation will surely transpire.

Enter Tiffany, the equally wounded and odd sister of Pat’s best friend’s wife.  Tiffany’s husband was tragically killed and because she is also now single and struggling emotionally, Pat’s friend thinks Pat and Tiffany are an ideal match. From the onset, Pat and Tiffany’s relationship is an awkward one. Pat is on a mission to improve his physique and so keeps an arduous regiment of running and exercise. Tiffany is on a mission to stalk Pat and so accompanies him on his daily runs; uninvited, running several paces behind and rarely offering up a word of conversation. When she finally does speak, she makes a deal with Pat; she will serve as the liaison between Nikki and Pat. In return, Pat must agree to Tiffany’s specific conditions.

This book is about relationships on all levels; Pat and his father, Pat and his brother, Pat and his mother and the unlikely relationship he develops with his therapist. This is a book you should pick up soon – and be sure to read it before you see the movie.