The Silver Linings Playbook

Ok. Hands up. I watched the film before reading the book. Schoolgirl error I know, but after seeing Jennifer Lawrence get an Oscar for her performance and because Bradley Cooper was just in it, I had to see it. Then the book was in the bargain bin in Sainsbury's (like every book I end up reading) and I thought why not.

For the minority who haven't seen the film or read the book, (although they are quite a bit different from each other which was a surprise...) it explores the life of Pat Peoples, post mental institution, and his efforts to win back his ex wife after 4 years of 'apart time' and then shows how he tries to move on with his life and better himself.

Pat is such a loveable protagonist you almost don't care what he's done to end up in this position (although you are a tad curious until the last 50 pages or so when it is finally revealed). He has a frosty relationship with his father and is a die hard Eagles fan, so there is a lot of man-sport-speak that I didn't quite get but it doesn't matter if you don't know what he's on about, it's his love for his family and friends in connection with his love for his team that matters (bit of a jumbled way of phrasing but if you give it a read, you'll know what I mean!).

It takes a pretty long time to meet the equally messed up Tiffany, the character that won Jennifer Lawrence an Oscar. Once they meet, they start running silently together and eating a shared bowl of raisin bran in a diner every now and again. It was a massive effort for me to accept Jennifer Lawrence as playing Tiffany because she is so young, but Tiffany is in her late 20's/early 30's, so if you've seen the film, you might have trouble getting your head around the age thing. But the way their relationship evolves is really intriguing.

The story is really quite beautiful. It's not funny, but there are some parts where you can't help but let out a little giggle to yourself. It's a bit Curious Incident come One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but the story is more uplifting that either of those, hence the title. Parts are really quite sad in a way, but it put me in a good mood everytime I read a chapter (chapters which are wonderfully short I might add).

If the fact that Bradley Cooper played him in the movie isn't enough to make you fall in love with Pat, give it a read and I can almost guarentee you will fall in love with his character (post reinvetion obviously, before he went into the 'bad place' he was a right piece of work). The only thing I didn't love about the book was that it's all written in the present tense, but that's always been a little pet hate of mine. Like I said, actually quite different from the movie in terms of plot so give them both a go.

Have you read this book? What did you think?
Have a lovely day!