I’ve been trying to stay true to my 2015 book list and assign a book to read each month.

For the month of February I read The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick (the original version not the movie edited version).

One of the best movies I’ve ever seen is The Silver Linings Playbook starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence based on the novel by Matthew Quick. 
Going into reading the book I didn’t want to see the movie in my head while I read. I wanted it to be like I had never ever seen the movie. But, of course that wasn’t possible. I kept seeing Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence.
As soon as I was done reading the book, I began watching The Silver Linings Playbook again (it’s on Netflix). When I tell you the movie sucks after reading the book, I mean it really started to suck. But, don’t get me wrong! The movie is still a good movie, it’s just not good compared to the book. Books are always better anyways, it seems like. 
This is not a book vs. movie post! This is a The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick review.
I know I’ve read a great book when I never want it to end, and I talk about the characters as if they’re real people. That is what The Silver Linings Playbook gave me, something to hold on to. 
Written in Pat Peeple’s perspective, the author gives readers a look into an unhealthy kind of love. After an event of betrayal came a stay in a mental institution and an unhealthy, seemingly undying love for his wife Nikki. I would say he gives readers a look into what it’s like to be mentally ill but I won’t say that because I don’t find that to be true. 
This novel is more than about a man who goes into a mental institution and has to take pills everyday. I find it to be more about love than anything. Love in a different way, absolutely. 
Like, in The Great Gatsby, Pat is obsessed and also confused about who he thinks is his one true love. Pat goes through struggles which are different than those of Gatsby’s but his struggles are what lead into the novel’s purpose. 
The author gives readers a look at depression and anger and what that can do to someone and how that can make someone feel. That is what Pat struggles with, ‘mental illness’ and the things that come with that, like his father’s lack of communication. 
But, ultimately his struggles bring himself (as well as the readers) to Tiffany. A woman who is just as “crazy” as he is. 
With a beautiful ending that will always stick with me, The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick is romantic-comedy gold. 
————————————————————————————————————
I would say more, but I don’t want to spoil the book for you! Read it and find out what’s up with that Tiffany girl I left you hanging with, what the betrayal I mentioned is all about, and much more… 

Originally published 3/25/15.