Reading books with movie counterparts is one of my favorite things to do because I just love to see how a team of artists has interpreted the same thing I read and put it to film. Usually I do a book-to-movie comparison afterwards, but I have started SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK twice already and have been interrupted by something or other both times, so I’m reviewing just the novel for now and will review the movie once I finally get a chance to read it!
Here is the synopsis from its Goodreads page:
Meet Pat. Pat has a theory: his life is a movie produced by God. And his God-given mission is to become physically fit and emotionally literate, whereupon God will ensure a happy ending for him — the return of his estranged wife Nikki. (It might not come as a surprise to learn that Pat has spent time in a mental health facility.) The problem is, Pat’s now home, and everything feels off. No one will talk to him about Nikki; his beloved Philadelphia Eagles keep losing; he’s being pursued by the deeply odd Tiffany; his new therapist seems to recommend adultery as a form of therapy. Plus, he’s being hunted by Kenny G!
So with all of the rave reviews the movie got, including Oscar nominations, I had really high expectations for this book and I have to say that I was pretty disappointed. Not only have I felt pretty “over” the first-person stream-of-consciousness storywriting for awhile (see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, etc.) but the first-person stream-of-consciousness writing isn’t even very good. There weren’t very many stand-out quotes, the plot floated around without a clear direction, and the characters weren’t developed (again, see my complaints about first-person stream-of-consciousness writing).
I kept waiting and waiting for it to get good, for the plot to develop, for it to be more than he was leading me to, but it just wasn’t. There were a couple scenes that actually tugged on my heart but the rest of it fell so superbly flat. I’m running out of ways to say it without going on a bitch rant about this book, but, geeze, it was just so disappointing.
Despite all of this, I am still very excited for the movie. Because the thing with most book-to-movie conversions is that they push the plot in so many places to fit a 2-hour limit that the fans are upset, but in this case I can’t wait to see this book condensed to only its good parts. I only hope that they actually choose the good parts!
What did you think of the book and/or the movie? Do you think someone who didn’t like the book will still enjoy the movie?