Matthew Quick

The Silver Linings Playbook

Matthew Quick always wanted to be an author, but in his family in Oaklyn, New Jersey, reading was not encouraged and a literary career deemed unmanly. An isolated teenager and fan of the bands the Smiths and the Cure, Quick concealed his inner turmoil. He adored reading—Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five was an early favorite—and eventually he received some crucial encouragement from high school teachers. He was all-too-happy to escape the confines of his hometown when he entered La Salle University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1992.

From The Silver Linings Playbook:

“I don’t have to look up to know Mom is making another surprise visit. Her toenails are always pink during the summer months, and I recognize the flower design imprinted on her leather sandals; it’s what Mom purchased the last time she signed me out of the bad place and took me to the mall.”

After graduation, he became a tenured, well-loved English teacher, sports coach, and youth counselor at an upscale South Jersey high school, while his wife, a fellow fiction writer, taught at Bryn Mawr College. Because teaching was time-consuming, they both put aside their careers in 2004 to pursue writing—a difficult decision that Quick credits with sustaining both his marriage and his livelihood. He pursued an MFA in creative writing at Goddard College.

After Quick had written two novels and a creative thesis, his mentor remarked that his work lacked humor, so he decided to write something unashamedly entertaining. It became Silver Linings Playbook, which, after being discovered among unsolicited manuscript submissions at a high-end literary agency, became a bestseller and the basis for an Oscar-winning film.

Quick and his wife, Alicia Bessette, live in Massachusetts.

ALSO RECOMMENDED:

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock. An unflinching, moving examination of impossible choices facing an eighteen-year-old boy who hides a gun in his backpack.

Beer Margarita

In the Silver Linings Playbook, Pat, the protagonist, after performing a choreographed dance with Tiffany, goes to an epic tailgating party and drinks beer.

2–12 oz. bottles of your favorite beer, chilled

1/2 cup limeade (frozen concentrate, thawed)

1/2 cup tequila (chilled)

Crushed ice

Fig wedges

In a pitcher, combine beer, limeade, and tequila. Fill glasses with crushed ice, then with margarita mixture. Optional: Garnish with fig wedges and serve. Serves 4.