Tuesday 19 February 2013

Book Review: Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

I know, I know. Behind the times, again. You still love me, though, right?
Pat has just gotten out of the bad place. He's really eager for apart time to end. Instead, he's a thirty-something living with his parents being coddled, kept away from secrets that he should already know. And then there's Tiffany.

 Okay, I don't want to offend someone,  but this book kind of worried me.
 No doubt, it was brilliant. Amazingly written. Beautiful. Heart warming. Long story short, it was a really, really good book.
 However, the psychology behind it worries me. The way that Pat's family AND his therapist handle him worries me. Personally, I agree with Tiffany's way of handling things -- almost, anyway. I don't want to ruin it all for those very few of you who haven't read it, so I'll make the first point that occurred to me: Pat does about ten hours of exercise a day, and is dedicated to getting skinnier. Now, I'm no psychologist, of course (though I hope to be in the future), but if there was one thing I would not do it would be to encourage this by buying the guy a whole gym set. There are more examples than that, but I won't bore you/ruin it for you.
 Because, if you ignore all that, it was a really beautiful, interesting book. Pat is a well-written, heart-felt character, and, in their own way, his family are lovely, supportive people. Tiffany's a great character too, and the whole book is mesmerising.

 I know, it's not much of a review, but you've all read it, so...
 It gets five stars, obv.

Charlotte out!

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