The Reason You're Alive <\/p>\n
By Matthew Quick <\/p>\n
Harper. 240 pp. $25.99 <\/p>\n
Reviewed By David Martindale <\/p>\n
In The Reason You're Alive, Matthew Quick performs a nifty literary magic trick. <\/p>\n
The author of The Silver Linings Playbook introduces readers to David Granger, a politically incorrect Vietnam veteran who takes pride in the fact that he's basically too ornery to die. <\/p>\n
By book's end, everyone will wind up loving the camouflage-wearing, knife-carrying sociopath. <\/p>\n
Turns out he's really not such a bad guy once you get to know him. <\/p>\n
Granger tells us his life story: going rogue and committing atrocities in the Vietnam jungle, coming home to a military psychiatric facility, marrying a woman more unstable than he is, and always at odds with his now-grown, \"ignorant\" liberal, art-dealer son. <\/p>\n
Our protagonist ultimately goes on a mission to atone for an old transgression. He feels compelled to return a knife he stole nearly 50 years ago from his Vietnam nemesis: Clayton Fire Bear. <\/p>\n
When readers make it to the Capra-esque final pages, they are almost certain to shed a feel-good tear or two. Our hero would bust their chops for all the \"boo-hooing\" and \"girly-man behavior,\" but so be it. <\/p>\n
This review originally appeared in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. <\/p>\n
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Link: The Reason You're Alive By Matthew Quick Harper. Continue reading
\nMatthew Quick's 'Reason You're Alive': A feel-good sociopath's story - Philly.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"