Book Review: Life as a Super Bowl of cherries

Published on Saturday 10 January 2009 12:40

THE SILVER LININGS PLAY BOOK

Matthew Quick

Picador, 10.99

NOVELS where the characters know more than the reader are commonplace – crime fiction or thrillers would be impossible without such secrets and withholdings. Novels where the reader understands more than the main character are a rarer phenomenon; but they do exist. From The Diary Of A Nobody to Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident… there is a particular, bittersweet charm about a guileless narrator who just doesn't get what's going on. Matthew Quick's delightful debut is in this vein, and it's a smart, touching, quirky read.

Although the nave hero, Pat Peoples, has just been released from "the bad place" by his mother, he still faces challenges. "Apart time" from his wife Nikki is never going to end unless he shapes up physically and mentally, and learns "to be kind rather than right". Despite the best efforts of his therapists, Pat has an unshakeable optimism – the silver linings – and is convinced that if he fulfils his mission, God will ensure that the film of his life turns out to be a rom-com. To add to his burdens, Pat's laconic, angry father thinks his behaviour directly affects their beloved football team, the Philadelphia Eagles, and Pat's nemesis – saxophonist Kenny G – seems hell-bent on scuppering the closure.

Some of the finest comic moments in the book come from Pat's outrage as he starts studying classic American novels, since Nikki is an English teacher. "You can tell Fitzgerald never took the time to look up at the clouds during sunset", he fumes after reading The Great Gatsby, "because there's no silver lining at the end of that book, let me tell you".

The novel gets its momentum from a meeting between Pat and Tiffany, who offers to act as a go-between for Pat and Nikki, on the condition that Pat partner Tiffany at the "Dance Away Depression" competition. Of course, the reader can guess where this is going, more or less. That said, there is a laugh-out-loud reveal when we actually get the music Tiffany has chosen as their theme.

The Silver Linings Play Book is technically accomplished – there's a very witty homage to montage in the Rocky films – and never teeters into mockery. Unlike The Great Gatsby or the Eagles' 2006 Season, there is a happy ending, if not a silver lining, and it's neither saccharine nor supercilious.