Although this book had been made into a movie and one of my favorite actresses even won an Oscar for her portrayal in it, I still had no idea what this was about or if it was a good book. So I picked up the audiobook completely blind to what this was about, which I much prefer to seeing the movie and then reading the book.

Pat is just getting out of a psychiatric hospital and he’s back living in his parents home. He is unclear on exactly what has transpired to land him in the psych ward, how much time he spent there or what has happened out in the real world since he’s been gone. All Pat knows is that he wants “apart time” from his wife, Nikki, to be over now. He doesn’t get along well with his father, his mother is protecting him from reality and when Pat meets Tiffany, a troubled woman just like himself, he doesn’t know what to make of this new life.

During the first few chapters of this book I was confused as to what exactly was reality and what was not. But as I read on that seemed to be the point of the book – to be as confused as Pat was and to not be able to discern what was past or present. Pat struggles to maintain his grip on what is happening in the present and comes to realize that he has been away for closer to 4 years. He wants to see his wife Nikki more than anything and can’t understand why that isn’t happening. He becomes friends with Tiffany and as that friendship grows, she helps him in ways that he can’t quite grasp, coming to grips with everything that’s happened.

This book was surprisingly funny and touching. There was an awful lot of sports references and as one who really hates sports I thought that would bother me but instead I saw it as what it was – the bonding between men when there is no other ways to bond.

4 stars

~ Clio

Buy it Now The Silver Linings Playbook: A Novel