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Matthew Quick

 Matthew Quick has just written his first memoir--and it's notable. Sometimes a memoir can seem guarded or self-serving, but Quick lets it all hang out.


Having written "Silver Linings Playbook," Quick anticipates a Hollywood career. He writes some screenplays. Nothing goes anywhere. He finds himself blocked. This coincides with a period of bad eating and excessive drinking--until Quick no longer recognizes himself. He begins to consider suicide.

As Quick struggles to pull himself together, he considers the life of a compelling secondary character, his own father. Quick Senior has severe panic attacks. He disrupts a theatrical performance because he believes he has dropped his wallet; he begins shouting at the ushers. Once the wallet is retrieved, he cannot offer thanks. Having started to succumb to senility, Senior begins ranting about his wife. If she visits the grandkids for one night, it must mean that she has opted for a divorce. Senior also shuts down in terror when a nurse asks him to pee in a cup--and he believes that the pee errand will be impossible.

The book I'm reminded of is "Mother's Milk," by Edward St. Aubyn. Quick is exploring similar terrain--anger and confusion. I'm impressed by Quick's precision.

Good memoir.
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