Saturday, January 18, 2014

The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick



This is the story about a man who is fighting a battle with depression. Anyone who has had this illness will know that it is a battle,  and you do have to fight it with all you have in you. When you have nothing  left in you  to fight with it is time to lean on those closest to you to hold you up until you can do it yourself, but do not give up.

I imagined that the story was going to be hard to read about somebody who is going through something so horrible but the story was so inspiring and optimistic in unexpected ways that I would recommend it for anyone who needs a feel good book.
Through the book we see depression from the side of someone with it who can verbalise in some ways what it is like day to day. An example would be having to explain to people why you don't drink in social situations. Another was having a way of finding a way to let the emotions out when you can't verbalise them by doing things like exercising.. Pat used this in the story as a way to get out strong feelings that he could not express. Pat felt left out of his family and tried very hard to find his way back in his family circle through sport. Medications and doctors 's appointments were other things that some people might not think about when they think about depression. It is an illness  , the story highlights a lot of the" behind the scenes moments" of depression. There are many moments in the book that cause you to sit back and think about  what we may think of depression or how we deal with it. Pick up this book if you get a chance. It is really worth reading.

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