“I don’t have to look up to know Mom is making another surprise visit.”

From Matthew Quick’s The Silver Linings Playbook.

After his stay at a mental institution, Pat Peoples moves from Baltimore back into his childhood home in New Jersey.  Pat is confused because while he knows that he was married to Nikki, he cannot remember why they’re separated or how long they have been separated.  After deciding that his life is a movie being created by God, Pat comes to the conclusion that the silver lining of his life movie will be when he reunites with Nikki as the film’s ending.  In preparation to win Nikki back, Pat begins a lifestyle of self-improvement, which includes trying to reconnect with friends.  When some friends introduce Pat to Tiffany, a recent widow that has just moved back to New Jersey, Pat soon finds himself helping Tiffany by joining her for a dance routine.  As the two spend more time together training for the dance, Pat shares that he wants to write letters to Nikki though he doesn’t know how to get them to her; Tiffany offers to act as a delivery go-between for Pat and Nikki’s written communications so Pat spends two months writing back-and-forth with Nikki.  When Nikki suggests an in-person meeting, Pat sneaks away from his protective parents to meet with her, however what he finds at the scheduled meeting shatters the world that Pat has struggled to piece together, but it also allows him the chance to discover his real silver linings.

The inspiration for the award-wining movie of the same name Quick writes in a manner that is full of quick wit and jumbled ideas that creates a very unique story.  The main character’s mental struggle is never labeled, which leaves it to the reader’s presumptions and can be a bit annoying at times.  Overall, The Silver Linings Playbook is an engaging read that will hold the reader’s attention from start to finish.