The Silver Linings Playbook [Audiobook, Unabridged] [MP3 CD]

Matthew Quick (Author), Ray Porter (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008

[This is the MP3CD audiobook format.]

Why did NPR's popular librarian Nancy Pearl pick The Silver Linings Playbook as one of summer's best reads for 2009?

''Aawww shucks!'' Pearl said. ''I know that's hardly a usual way to begin a book review, but it was my immediate response to finishing Matthew Quick's heartwarming, humorous and soul-satisfying first novel . . . This book makes me smile.''

Meet Pat Peoples. 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 him a happy ending -- the return of his estranged wife, Nikki. (It might not come as a surprise to learn that Pat has spent several years 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, and his new therapist seems to recommend adultery as a form of therapy. Plus, he's being haunted by Kenny G! Then, Pat meets clinically depressed widow Tiffany, who offers to act as a liaison between him and his wife -- provided he agrees to a secret contract that includes giving up football and performing in the next Dance Away Depression competition.

As the award-winning novelist Justin Cronin put it: ''Tender, soulful, hilarious, and true, The Silver Linings Playbook is a wonderful debut.''

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pat Peoples, the endearing narrator of this touching and funny debut, is down on his luck. The former high school history teacher has just been released from a mental institution and placed in the care of his mother. Not one to be discouraged, Pat believes he has only been on the inside for a few months––rather than four years––and plans on reconciling with his estranged wife. Refusing to accept that their apart time is actually a permanent separation, Pat spends his days and nights feverishly trying to become the man she had always desired. Our hapless hero makes a friend in Tiffany, the mentally unstable, widowed sister-in-law of his best friend, Ronnie. Each day as Pat heads out for his 10-mile run, Tiffany silently trails him, refusing to be shaken off by the object of her affection. The odd pair try to navigate a timid friendship, but as Pat is unable to discern friend from foe and reality from deranged optimism, every day proves to be a cringe-worthy adventure. Pat is as sweet as a puppy, and his offbeat story has all the markings of a crowd-pleaser. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

''Tender, soulful, hilarious, and true, The Silver Linings Playbook is a wonderful debut.'' --Justin Cronin, PEN/Hemingway Award-winning author of Mary and O'Neil and The Summer Guest

''[A] touching and funny debut . . . Pat is as sweet as a puppy, and his offbeat story has all the markings of a crowd-pleaser.'' --Publishers Weekly

''Matthew Quick has created quite the heartbreaker of a novel in The Silver Linings Playbook.'' --Kirkus Reviews

''Matthew Quick is a natural storyteller, and his The Silver Linings Playbook -- honest, wise, and compassionate -- is a story that carries the reader along on a gust of optimism . . . More than a promising debut or an inspiring love story, this novel offers us the gift of healing.'' --Roland Merullo, author of In Revere, In Those Days

''This is a funny, touching performance on the part of Mr. Quick--and the beginning, I hope, of a big career.'' --Dave King, author of The Ha-Ha

''Entertaining and heartfelt and authentic, The Silver Linings Playbook magically binds together love, madness, Philadelphia Eagles football, faith, family, and hard-earned hope into a story that is both profound and wonderfully beguiling. This is a splendid novel, written by a big-time talent.'' --Martin Clark, author of The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living and The Legal Limit

''I loved The Silver Linings Playbook. It is warm, funny, and moving.'' --Shawn McBride, author of Green Grass Grace

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• MP3 CD: 1 pages
• Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.; MP3CD Unabridged edition (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1433253690
• ISBN-13: 978-1433253690
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Matthew Quick (aka Q) is the author of THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK (Sarah Crichton Books / Farrar, Straus & Giroux) and two young adult novels, SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR and BOY21 (Little, Brown & Co). His work has received many honors--including a PEN/Hemingway Award Honorable Mention--and has been translated into several languages. The Weinstein Company and David O. Russell have adapted THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, starring Robert De Niro, Bradley Cooper, and Jennifer Lawrence. Matthew lives in Massachusetts with his wife, novelist Alicia Bessette.

www.matthewquickwriter.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that will make you happy, September 5, 2008

By 

Justin Heinze "midnight runner" (Haddonfield, NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Silver Linings Playbook: A Novel (Hardcover)

IN The Silver Linings Playbook, Mr. Quick has done something very difficult for literature to do: inspire hope. As the unflinchingly and endearingly honest main character notes, many of the greatest classics in American literature end in despair, or are such thorough condemnations of life as it is that it is difficult sometimes to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The lives of the authors often mirror the grim reality of their novels. Hemingway shoots himself dead with a shotgun and Plath sticks her head into an oven. Pat Peoples' explanation? They never looked up at the clouds at sunset.

It is this simple kind of appreciation for beauty which distinguishes Pat not just from his literary contemporaries, but from all of the other characters in The Silver Linings Playbook itself. He appreciates characters like Hester Prynne and Holden Caulfield who, like himself, hold onto their values and nobility in a harsh world that seems bent on stripping them of everything they hold dear. Though Pat himself is slightly deluded - he is not just on 'apart time' with his wife, there is no 'inevitable reunion' as the first chapter title suggests - his honest, everyman's struggle, epitomized by the apt adage of 'practicing being kind rather than right', against all the forces in the world conspiring to break his hope is so convincing that the reader starts to believe in silver linings himself.

This book will make you happy, though, because of the way it is written. Most of the chapter titles will make you laugh in a different way than the next. Mr. Quick's apt use of detail, allusions, and brilliant comparisons bring the story to life. That a chapter should be called "Like he was Yoda and I was Luke Skywalker training on Dagobah" is a very precious thing. Meanwhile periodic interludes such as advice from Pat's 'black friend Danny', and even the whole introduction of the death of Veterans Stadium as a new thing, bring bits of humor just when the story may seem to be becoming sad. The author has an eye for quirks and intricacies of language and a gift for conveying them in a readable yet still emotional and romantic manner. More than just the ease of identifying with Pat, Mr. Quick's simple, declarative prose, highlighted by brief, nostalgic-filled, almost Hemingway-like sentences, reels in the reader.

Peoples seems to represent the Hemingway ideal of masculinity: courage as grace under pressure. Pat has much grace under pressure. Slips from this grace he deeply regrets, and is always molding himself into a good person, even when no one is watching and no one cares. His entire self-improvement program was aimed towards a person who would never know he had ever changed a bit.

But there is no tragic ending to match this altruistic ideal, as there is in many Hemingway stories. Though there is bad in life, there is good also, and Pat, like his author, knows where to find it.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Silver Linings In Life, September 6, 2008

By 

A. W. L. (Lancaster, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Silver Linings Playbook: A Novel (Hardcover)

Excellent book that both men and women would enjoy. Very fast read and one that I could not put down. I was late for a lot of appointments and stayed up late because I had to finish just one more chapter. Although Pat Peoples has just been released from a psychiatric hospital, he appears to be the only "sane" character in the book compared to his family and friends. The book weaves the reader through the Eagles 2006 season as Pat struggles to fit in and resolve many of his personal issues. Pat always tries to "be kind rather than right" and is confident that with hard work, on his part, that his life will lead to a happy ending. I would highly recommend this book and can't wait to read Mr. Quick's next novel.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that will make you believe in silver linings, September 10, 2008

By 

Myfanwy Collins (New England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Silver Linings Playbook: A Novel (Hardcover)

Philadelphia is not only the home of the quintessentially American Liberty Bell, cheese steak, and Rocky, but now Philadelphia offers us another American original: Pat Peoples, the neurologically-damaged, ex-wife pining, mother-loving, uber Eagles fan protagonist of Matthew Quick's dazzling debut novel The Silver Linings Playbook.

You might think that a book about a guy who has lost so much--his wife, his home, his job, and many years of his life in a mental health facility--would be depressing. Far from it. In fact, this book is uplifting. For what Quick offers us is not just the brutality of life--a father who won't talk to his son, a cheating wife, many violent tempers--but also the beauty of it--finding love in unexpected people. Basically, Quick shows us that no matter how far down you fall, there are people willing to help you pick yourself back up. Quick gives us hope.

Does everything turn out the way Pat wanted it to? No. But it does turn out just as it should: with two broken souls coming together, hoping, and believing in the silver lining.

In short: a gorgeous, poignant, funny and uplifting book. Read it.