Dad, Love, Me

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE Written in the form of a letter to his ailing father, this debut memoir from the bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook explores the complicated burden of caring for an abusive parent who is dyinghere is Matthew Quicks most personal and potent work to date.

This book will gut you and then, somehow, put you back together. Scott Galloway Dad, Love, Me is a masterpiece.It will change peoples lives. Lori Gottlieb A gut punch of a memoirWhat a gift this book is. Catherine Newman For all its heavy subject matter, the book has a remarkably light touch and sense of grace. Kirkus Reviews

What begins as an excavation of childhood trauma gradually becomes something rarer and more enlightening: an account of what happens when forgiveness arrives only after the parent who most needs it begins losing the ability to understand it....Its difficult to read this book without feeling that some redemption and reconciliationbetween parents and children, between scarred memory and forgivenesshave become possible. The New York Times

On the surface, Matthew Quick seemed to have it alla loving wife, a thriving career as a novelist, and a beautiful home. Hed traveled all over the world advocating for mental health awareness, standing before crowds as a success story. But secretly, he was depressed and some days, he didnt want to live.

Years earlier, when he first told his father he wanted to be a novelist, the response was immediate and brutal: Idiot! That voiceangry and belittlingwould echo through Quicks mind for years. He channeled his pain into his debut novel, The Silver Linings Playbook, crafting a complex father-son dynamic drawn straight from his own life. The book became a New York Times bestseller and was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. Still, the approval Quick longed for never came. His father remained cold and withholding. The deeper the rift between them grew, the deeper Quick sank into anxiety and addiction.

In this book, Quick takes readers deep into his psyche, as he wrestles with both his own mental health and his fathers cognitive decline. A health scare finally forces Quick to get sober, but then, overcome by creative paralysis, writers block threatens to end his career. The blank page is unbearable. As his desperation for healing peaks, Quick turns to a Jungian analyst he nicknames Zeus. In the safety of analysis, as Quicks repressed pain and shame surface, he finally cracks. Just as he is putting himself back together, his father is diagnosed with dementia.

Suddenly, the clock is ticking. If there is ever going to be reconciliation, it has to happen now. Quick and his wife pack up their lives in coastal North Carolina, drive eight hours, and move into a house just around the corner from Quicks parents, on an island right outside of Beaufort, South Carolina. There, as his father slips further and further away, Quick races to make a healing connection.

Dad, Love, Me is Quicks raw, vulnerable, and deeply moving account of what it means to forgive a parent who never really knew how to love you. Its about wounds that never fully heal, and the power of showing up anyway. This beautifully brave and life-affirming memoir is a must read for anyone who has been starved of love but wants to keep loving anyway.