The Silver Linings Playbook

The Book

Having watched the trailer for the film adaptation of Silver Linings, I was anticipating a quirky sort of rom-com drama featuring someone suffering from a mental health issue. I have yet to see if that is what the film is like, but the book is more than that. Yes it does have its humorous moments, and thankfully they are not derived from laughing at people with mental health problems, but underneath it has a lot of sadness and heartbreak.
Pat Peoples is released from an institution and goes back to live with his parents. In his thirties, he was married to Nikki, and all he looks forward to is the end of apart time, when they can be reconciled. His dogged determination to be re-united leads him to new friendships and eventually a new beginning.

Cloud Atlas

The Book

Cloud Atlas is one of those modern day books that is virtually required reading for a reading group to discuss. There's much to admire in the clever way the author delivers different interlocking stories, one inside the other like a Russian Doll, not only changing time periods but fictional genres. I couldn't help feeling that it was all too clever for its own good, however.
The reader may enjoy a historical novel or a political thriller or a futuristic sci-fi plot, but finding a reader who will enjoy all of them may be rare. The further in to the novel I got, the harder I found the reading, until the middle segment set in a post-apocalyptic future where even the language had broken down and I came to a stodgy halt, skipping forward to the conclusions of the earlier stories.

On the Road

The Book

I was looking forward to reading On the Road, as it is feted by so many as a cult American novel and the essence of the Beat Generation. Looking at other people's reviews on Good Reads, it seems to be you either love it or hate it. I feel somewhat ambivalent - it is a rambling story, very much just an outpouring of Sal's thoughts and deeds and you do get carried along, like you are clinging to the tail bumper.
It's like reading someone else's travelogue diary on speed, who never stops to savour the place or the moment, but always wants to keep on moving to the next shallow experience. There are some examples of wonderful descriptive prose, describing some of the landscapes Sal travels through, but these are thrown in amongst the haphazard picking up and dropping off of so many characters that you never get to know.