"The Silver Linings Playbook" and Why You'll Hate The Book!!!!!

The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Since the reading of the book has primarily come down to movie vs. book, I plan to review the book with that in mind. If you saw the movie and enjoyed it as I did, you probably won't like the book. Might also depend on the order. Read book, see movie or vice versa. Since I saw the movie first, multiple times, that's my comparison and review,

In the book, with few exceptions, this book takes place in South New Jersey while the movie takes place in Ridley Park which is in PA (Delaware County). I think the movie people figured out that Pat, a huge Eagles fan, belonged in Pennsylvania.

Here's everything in the book that no one will like:

1. Pat's father is barely a character in the book, Robert DeNiro is movie magic,
2. Tiffany spends most of the book running behind Pat and never speaks to him,
3. In the book, Pat was in the hospital for FOUR YEARS for what seemed like a man who got pissed for finding his wife cheating, not for a mental illness. Who gets put in a mental institution for beating the shit out of the guy who screwed your wife?
4. Like the movie, Pat's diagnosis is never disclosed which is potentially dangerous as it can lead to people thinking all mental illnesses are the same.
5. Pat calling the mental facility "the bad place," and calling his divorce from Nikki, "apart time" has to be the most childish crap I've ever heard come out of an adult character's head. What's worse is that the author chose to use this terminology throughout the entire book.
6. Not telling Pat anything and hiding everything from him was a horrible idea. It shows the author's naiveté and lack of knowledge about mental health issues.
7. The fact that Pat worshipped the ground Nikki walked on yet, never questioned why she never showed up, made no sense.
8. Except for Pat, all of the characters are really just non-characters with names. They have no depth and they rarely speak. I would say that 95% of the entire book is Pat narrating and every other word is "Nikki."

All in all, it was an easy read. Had I not seen the movie, I think my review of the book would be the same. In a book where the main character is dealing with a mental illness and trying to live in the world with that illness, I expect to know the diagnosis, I expect the symptoms to be made known and I expect to understand why one might be having some of the troubles that come with that particular illness. This book does NONE of that. 


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