The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick
It has taken me awhile to write this review since I wanted some time to be able to sit down and put my thoughts into words. This story is about a guy named Pat. The story takes place the day he gets out of "the bad place", which is clearly a mental hospital. He is obsessed with reuniting with his wife, Nikki, and ending "apart time". The problem is that Pat thinks it has been just a couple months and ignores everything that points to the fact that he's been there for several years.
Enter Tiffany.
Tiffany is Pat's best friend's sister-in-law. Her husband died two years previous and she is not handling it well. Initially I thought this would be a silly love story about how these two would meet and instantly heal each others pain. Thank goodness I was wrong. The story deals more with the severe depression these two face and how they handle it.
The story was engaging and I literally had a hard time putting it down. I actually read this one (and didn't listen to it on CD). While normally a slow reader, taking weeks to finish a book, I finished this one in less than 24 hours. Perhaps its because I have been well acquainted with mental disorders like depression in my life that drew me to this story. Whatever the reason, I loved this story and would recommend it to anyone.
Matthew Quick has a fantastic insight into the world of mental disorders. While he never labels Tiffany or Pat, I think that is best. I am a firm believer we all have mental tendencies and issues. Of course some and far more extreme than others. This book shows Pat as a wounded man with serious issues from a positive perspective. He is really trying to heal and function normally. He doesn't need to be treated with kid gloves or locked away. He just needs people who will understand and exercises patience, a trait we could all use this day an age.
Again, I highly recommend this book!
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