The book I am reading is Silver Linings Playbook. This book has already been made into a movie and I personally like the movie better so far. I think the filmmaker would have a really hard time with making the characters so unique like in the book. The main character is Pat and has a mental health problem which makes him seem crazy and he overthinks everything. I think that in the movie it would be hard to have Pat talking or thinking constantly in the background of the movie.
The first scene that would have to be kept would be the moment in the book where Pat visits his therapist for the first time. As he walks into the office he hears Kenny G playing through the speakers and he has a complete episode of rage and anger, he starts tearing magazines off the walls and screams at the receptionist. Once you find out that the song that was playing was his wedding song and that his wife and himself are divorced because she cheated on him it starts to make sense. This scene is so important because it shows us as the reader how much he still cares for his "wife" and the reason to why he is seeing the therapist.
The second scene that would have to be kept would be when Pat and Tiffany meet. Pat goes over to his friends house for dinner and there he meets this woman named Tiffany. Tiffany has also had a bad past with the lose of her husband and the lose of her job. Tiffany along with Pat both have mental emotional problems and I think the scene where they first meet sets the mood for the way they act towards each other for most of the book. You can tell that Tiffany is mean yet vulnerable and that Pat is nice but still attached to his wife. This scene gives you insight on the relationship that is about to form between the two main characters.
The third scene I would keep would be where Pat, his brother and father are all in the living room about to watch the Eagles game. The Tillman family is big time into the Eagles football team and every Sunday they gather around to watch it. Since Pat went to a mental hospital his father has been ashamed of him and hasn't talked to him in years. Once Pat gets back home his dad still does not speak to him except for that Sunday when the Eagles were playing The Houston Texans. All of the boys in the family gathered around in a circle and Pat’s dad put his arm around Pat's shoulder and started chanting the Eagles victory song. At this moment you realize that people do care about Pat even though he does have some mental issues. You learn that things will start getting better for Pat including himself.
The scene that I would cut would be the part where he takes Tiffany out on a date. Even though it is big that he asked her out, all they ate was a bowl of Raisin Brand that they shared and then they left. I think the scene is kind of stupid because Tiffany's view about Pat doesn't change. They walk thirty minutes to the diner without talking, eat cereal and then walk another thirty minutes back where he walks Tiffany back to her house. The scene really does nothing for the book.
Another scene that I would cut out would be the scene where he gets in a physical fight with his parents over the ending of a book. First of all Pat is reading old high school books to impress his "wife" and he gets into a big argument with his parents about the way it ends. I think that this scene doesn't show who Pat really is. He is normally really sweet and caring but this scene shows a dark side to him.
