The Silver Linings Playbook: A Novel [Hardcover]

Matthew Quick (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 2, 2008

An enchanting first novel about love, madness, and Kenny G.

The Silver Linings Playbook is the riotous and poignant story of how one man regains his memory and comes to terms with the magnitude of his wife’s betrayal.

During the years he spends in a neural health facility, Pat Peoples formulates a theory about silver linings: he believes his life is a movie produced by God, his mission is to become physically fit and emotionally supportive, and his happy ending will be the return of his estranged wife, Nikki. When Pat goes to live with his parents, everything seems changed: no one will talk to him about Nikki; his old friends are saddled with families; the Philadelphia Eagles keep losing, making his father moody; and his new therapist seems to be recommending adultery as a form of therapy.

When Pat meets the tragically widowed and clinically depressed Tiffany, she offers to act as a liaison between him and his wife, if only he will give up watching football, agree to perform in this year’s Dance Away Depression competition, and promise not to tell anyone about their “contract.” All the while, Pat keeps searching for his silver lining.

In this brilliantly written debut novel, Matthew Quick takes us inside Pat’s mind, deftly showing us the world from his distorted yet endearing perspective. The result is a touching and funny story that helps us look at both depression and love in a wonderfully refreshing way.

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.)
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Review

"Matthew Quick has created quite the heartbreaker of a novel in The Silver Linings Playbook." — from the Kirkus First Fiction Issue

"Matthew Quick is a natural storyteller, and his SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK--honest, wise, and compassionate--is a story that carries the reader along on a gust of optimism. Without shying away from the difficulties of domestic life, it charts a route past those challenges, and leaves us with a lingering sense of hope. 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

"You don’t have to be a Philadelphia Eagles’ fan (or even from Philadelphia) to appreciate talented newcomer Matthew Quick’s page-turning paean to the power of hope over experience—the belief that this will all work out somehow, despite the long odds that life deals us. 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

"The hero of Matthew Quick's first novel is Pat Peoples, amnesiac optimist and absolute original, whose dysfunctional journey takes him from big-league fandom to competitive dance and a host of other modern preoccupations. 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

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; First Edition edition (September 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374264260
• ISBN-13: 978-0374264260
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,814 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #584,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Matthew Quick (aka Q) is the New York Times bestselling author of several novels, including THE SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, which was made into an Oscar-winning film. His work has been translated into more than twenty languages and has received a PEN/Hemingway Award Honorable Mention, among other accolades. Q lives in Massachusetts with his wife, novelist/pianist Alicia Bessette.

www.matthewquickwriter.com

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#83 Overall (See top 100 authors)

#4 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary

#4 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction

#14 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction

#18 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers

#22 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers

#4 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary

#4 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction

#14 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction

#18 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers

#22 in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

121 of 126 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

Format: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.

69 of 73 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

Format: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.

50 of 52 people found the following review helpful

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

By A. W. L.

Format: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.