The Silver Linings Playbook

The perfect read for a rainy day

The Silver Linings Playbook was an adorable and enjoyable surprise. Pat Peoples has just been let out of a mental institution and has one goal in life: to get back together with his wife Nikki. The only problem is that he’s got a restraining order. And he doesn’t remember why. All he knows is that he has to change in order to get her back. So he moves back in with his parents, reads all the books she loves, gets in shape, sees a therapist, and is totally oblivious to being a basket case. And then he meets a woman who is just as fucked up as he is.

Pat has absolutely no grasp of reality. But he’s got faith. Faith that there’s a silver lining, that if he works hard enough, he’ll get his happy ending. He’s charmingly naïve and utterly insane. Mix in some medication and a jazz phobia and you have a delicious cocktail of a book to be devoured sip by sip.

I’ve heard the novel described as one of those books that people who don’t usually read will also enjoy. I believe that’s true. The novel is entertaining, amusing and touching without being too light or clichéd. It’s the perfect easy read for a rainy day with no silver linings in sight. I listened to the audio narrated by Ray Porter, who did an excellent job. He read with emotion without overdoing it. And he has a nice, pleasant voice.

Highly recommended!

One of the most beautiful books about people, I felt so connected with Pat for being so real. I liked the movie but actually think they missed an opportunity to tell a new kind of love story.

I'm a bloke and I loved this book

Would you consider the audio edition of The Silver Linings Playbook to be better than the print version?

Yes totally, after a hard day in the office, catching up with the story an characters is something to look forward to. In fact I would sit in my car arriving home, knowing my wife was waiting for me, just to listen to a situation that I needed to hear what happened next.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Silver Linings Playbook?

Pat and Tiffany. My most favourite book of all time is Steven Kings the Stand. The characters are the reason. They stayed with me long after finishing the book. When I recommend The Stand I recall the characters like old friends. Pat, Tiffany and Cliff are in the same boat. And of course the EAGLES. Ever moment was the best.

What does Ray Porter bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The reader was good, like a movie with with an actor playing a major role and you couldn't imagine anyone else playing that part, I could not imagine anyone else reading it.

Who was the most memorable character of The Silver Linings Playbook and why?

Pat without question, Tiffany second, Cliff next followed by Nicky

Any additional comments?

You blokes out there this is not a romance book not a chick flick in audio, it is a great book that I would recommend and will recommend. Do yourself a favour give it a go. Watch the movie first if you will, however the movie, as they always are, is not as good as the book.

Pat Peoples is my all time favorite character!

Oh my God, I never thought I could fall in love so much for a character and for a story. Pat Peoples is my all time favorite character in the whole world.

He's such a good, incredibly nice guy. He's trying so hard to be nice, (instead of right), and to do all the things he believes are going to lead him to his happy ending, always trying to see the silver linings...

Being mentally ill made him a lot better. One can wonder if all our concepts of being 'normal' and 'stable' are all that correct after reading The Silver Linings Playbook.

Pat Peoples, I've learned so much from you... I'm sure going to miss you, my friend!

The Audible edition is absolutely perfect. Ray Porter delivers it incredibly well, and even though I loved, absolutely loved the ending, I'm really sad it ended!

Worth it in the end

What made the experience of listening to The Silver Linings Playbook the most enjoyable?

Imaging the main character as Bradley Cooper was a delight through the whole story.

What did you like best about this story?

The ending. It all comes together and the journey you've taken with the characters makes what seemed to be a slow story all make sense.

Any additional comments?

I didn't love this book until the end. I hated it in the beginning. Somewhere in the middle I started to connect to the story and I'm glad I stuck with it. It was a great book to drive with - not so much a good one for the gym. This story will stay with me long after books I enjoyed so much more have been forgotten.

Feel good indie listening

This is a feel good story, but with an indie not-everything-is-perfect touch to it which gives it more depth. It is as much a story on healing and dealing with life as it is about loneliness, friendship and all kinds of love (family, friendship and romantic). Two people more or less dented by life meet and become quite original friends. It's a lot like what Dr Seuss says:
"We are all a little weird and
Life’s a little weird,
And when we find someone whose
Weirdness is compatible with ours,
We join up with them and fall in
Mutual weirdness and call it love."

A nice gallery of characters, all humanly flawed in their own personal way. I love the quirk. The first person perspective of a main character who's quite messed up himself could have become disastrous in the hands of the wrong narrator, but it is spot on.

You get a big chunk of story, without unneccessary and flat plot, for the feel good genre and such a quick listen. If you're in the mood for an indie feel good, go for it!

A Different Silver Lining from the one you Expect

At first I decided to read the book with the idea to see the movie afterwards. It turns out I still might see the movie, but just because I want to see Jennifer Lawrence's performance as Tiffany.

Before I started listening to this audiobook, I had read the review, which does not do justice to the book itself, so there are many things that could have been said in order to give readers a heads-up.

As a psychologist myself, I'd say this is a great book for psychology students since it is so full of dellusion, defense mechanisms and alternative realities (not as in a sci-fi movie, but as in a drama with so much psychological disfunction and denial of reality).

Ray Porter’s voice is nice to hear, but in some scenes I feel it a little flat, and he gives the female characters the same voice, but for the male characters he is flawless. He gives each of the males characters a voice and personality of his own.

Most characters of this book have so many unresolved issues that you can't help but wonder what "their silver linings" is going to be, which the author does not give away, so you can only but wonder.

This is a story of faith, self improvement and silver linings, but not the way you might think. Pat People's, out main character, is a guy with bipolar personality disordar and serious mental instability, who struggles to be a better person for his (believed) wife, Nikki. He does all this hard work to become a better person for her, to be someone who can be reunited with her and happy his own silver lining, while that is the wrong reason why one might change. However, he tries to see the positive side of every single thing, which can give the reader a beautiful life lesson.

I feel the story should be longer with real closure for the characters.