The Reason You're Alive - Softcover

After sixty-eight-year-old David Granger crashes his BMW, medical tests reveal a brain tumor that he readily attributes to his wartime Agent Orange exposure. He wakes up from surgery repeating a name—that of a Native American soldier he calls Clayton Fire Bear. David is determined to return something precious he long ago stole from the man; it may be the only way to find closure in a world increasingly at odds with the one he served to protect. 

As David confronts his past to salvage his present, a poignant portrait emerges: that of an opinionated and good-hearted American patriot fighting to stay true to his red, white, and blue heart, even as the country he loves rapidly changes in ways he doesn’t always like or understand. By turns hilarious, insightful, and completely unexpected, The Reason You’re Alive offers a powerful exploration of how the secrets and debts we carry from our past define us.

Matthew Quick is the New York Times bestselling author of several novels, including The Silver Linings Playbook, which was made into an Oscar-winning film, and The Good Luck of Right Now. His work has been translated into thirty languages and has received a PEN/Hemingway Award Honorable Mention. He earned an MFA in creative writing at Goddard College. He floated down the Peruvian Amazon, backpacked around southern Africa, and hiked to the bottom of a snowy Grand Canyon before returning to Philadelphia and beginning to write full time.