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3.37 AVERAGE
3.37 AVERAGE
I picked this one up because I heard the movie was coming out and I wanted to read it before I saw it. (Completely an aside: Is there ANY teen novel movie adaptation coming out in the next year that Shailene Woodley ISN'T involved in?).
I finished reading this a few weeks ago, and it has been kind of haunting me. I'm still not sure how to feel about this book, and I think in this situation this is a good thing. This is a character book -- and the character is an alcoholic. Of course, he tells you on basically the first page that he's NOT an alcoholic, of course, because he can stop whenever he wants, and he doesn't drink alone, and and and.
There's a little bit of a love story, there's teen drinking, there's tragedy and all that, but I think the thing that made this one stay with me was the ending, and the ultimate point of the book. This is where I cut, in case you don't want me to give that away.
I finished reading this a few weeks ago, and it has been kind of haunting me. I'm still not sure how to feel about this book, and I think in this situation this is a good thing. This is a character book -- and the character is an alcoholic. Of course, he tells you on basically the first page that he's NOT an alcoholic, of course, because he can stop whenever he wants, and he doesn't drink alone, and and and.
There's a little bit of a love story, there's teen drinking, there's tragedy and all that, but I think the thing that made this one stay with me was the ending, and the ultimate point of the book. This is where I cut, in case you don't want me to give that away.
Spoiler
The trailer for the movie makes this story seem like one of those "bad boy gets cleaned up by good girl and turns his life around" stories, and oh man, this is SO not what this is. This is more like a "bad boy falls in love with good girl and she starts to become a little like him, and he realizes that's not a good thing and lets her go (but she doesn't know that's what he's doing) and then continues to be pathetic and sad and an alcoholic." GAH, the end of this book made me feel SO HOPELESS. And I loved that. I loved that nothing got tied up in a pretty little "this is how you turn your life around!" sort of ribbon -- you can see Sutter Keely down the road becoming one of those people he hangs out with in the bars, and it is so, so depressing. I hope teens will get that this is the point of the book, because it is really really powerful.
3.5 out of 5 stars.
This is such a difficult book for me to write a review for, and I believe it all boils down to what my mother had to say about the main character: “Everybody knows someone like that.” Sutter Keely is a teenage alcoholic. He can deny it as much as he wants, but that is the truth of it. As a reader you can get so sucked into his narrative voice that at the end you are brought devastatingly down to reality. You realize that this is a character on a destructive path no matter how much charisma he may brandish to momentarily blind you to otherwise.
While Sutter may remain ignorant to his deterioration, the author illustrates how much he has fallen through the characters that surround him. The juxtaposition is clear: while the author writes firmly and truthfully in Sutter’s mindset, the people he has known for a good deal of his life have begun to separate themselves from him. They try to help him, but how can you help someone who will never give up what they are doing when they will always have someone to cheer on their antics? Realization of the path he is on hits him yet it is still not enough to convince him to begin to save himself. The Spectacular Now is a tragic story that holds onto a realistic stance that I had not expected. Not all stories will end happily, and although I should have been able to see how (and deep down I really did know all along) this story would wind up, you feel mournful nonetheless.
Everybody knows someone like Sutter Keely.
This is such a difficult book for me to write a review for, and I believe it all boils down to what my mother had to say about the main character: “Everybody knows someone like that.” Sutter Keely is a teenage alcoholic. He can deny it as much as he wants, but that is the truth of it. As a reader you can get so sucked into his narrative voice that at the end you are brought devastatingly down to reality. You realize that this is a character on a destructive path no matter how much charisma he may brandish to momentarily blind you to otherwise.
While Sutter may remain ignorant to his deterioration, the author illustrates how much he has fallen through the characters that surround him. The juxtaposition is clear: while the author writes firmly and truthfully in Sutter’s mindset, the people he has known for a good deal of his life have begun to separate themselves from him. They try to help him, but how can you help someone who will never give up what they are doing when they will always have someone to cheer on their antics? Realization of the path he is on hits him yet it is still not enough to convince him to begin to save himself. The Spectacular Now is a tragic story that holds onto a realistic stance that I had not expected. Not all stories will end happily, and although I should have been able to see how (and deep down I really did know all along) this story would wind up, you feel mournful nonetheless.
Everybody knows someone like Sutter Keely.
I decided to check this book out after reading about the movie version that's being released this summer with Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller, but was hugely disappointed. I think I was expecting something along the lines of Perks of Being a Wallflower or The Fault in Our Stars, but this book didn't really seem to have much of a point. Sutter was just a really unlikable character and I didn't get his relationship with Aimee at all. Hopefully the movie will be A LOT better.
I’ve learned that feeling unease and discomfort while reading a book is rarely a bad sign. The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp proves my theory: the uncomfortable books are the ones that stick with me. The characters that give me a creeping feeling of “something’s wrong here” are the ones that haunt me long after I put the book down.
Sutter Keeley, teenaged alcoholic, is one of those characters. When we first meet Sutter, he’s content spending time with his girlfriend Cassidy and getting (and staying drunk) every day. But then Cassidy dumps him. He’s a little lost (figuratively and literally) when he meets Aimee. Aimee is the type of girl that wears t-shirts with pictures of horses proudly displayed on the front, and Sutter sees her as someone he can change, someone he can save. Aimee becomes Sutter’s “project” as he drags her into his world.
You might not like or approve of what you find once you see what’s inside Sutter, but you will remember him. As he tries to save everyone but himself, as his life spirals away from him, you might have the urge to just look away and put the book down. But you must keep reading.
The Spectacular Now is such an honest book. And in this honesty, many contrasts present themselves. There is beauty here, but there is also ugly things. There is humor but there is also depressing, heartbreaking scenes.
“But just remember this— weird’s good. Embrace the weird, dude. Enjoy it because it’s never going away.”
Sutter’s philosophy on life pretty much sums up this book. It may be weird. It may be uncomfortable. It might not end the way you desperately hope it will. But all you can do is embrace it.
The Spectacular Now is a 2008 National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature
Sutter Keeley, teenaged alcoholic, is one of those characters. When we first meet Sutter, he’s content spending time with his girlfriend Cassidy and getting (and staying drunk) every day. But then Cassidy dumps him. He’s a little lost (figuratively and literally) when he meets Aimee. Aimee is the type of girl that wears t-shirts with pictures of horses proudly displayed on the front, and Sutter sees her as someone he can change, someone he can save. Aimee becomes Sutter’s “project” as he drags her into his world.
You might not like or approve of what you find once you see what’s inside Sutter, but you will remember him. As he tries to save everyone but himself, as his life spirals away from him, you might have the urge to just look away and put the book down. But you must keep reading.
The Spectacular Now is such an honest book. And in this honesty, many contrasts present themselves. There is beauty here, but there is also ugly things. There is humor but there is also depressing, heartbreaking scenes.
“But just remember this— weird’s good. Embrace the weird, dude. Enjoy it because it’s never going away.”
Sutter’s philosophy on life pretty much sums up this book. It may be weird. It may be uncomfortable. It might not end the way you desperately hope it will. But all you can do is embrace it.
The Spectacular Now is a 2008 National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature
INCLUDES SPOILERS (slightly...)
As I had watched the film first I thought I already knew the story line and the characters but instead the film is rather different from the original story in the book. This normally never happens but I did prefer the film, I found the main character Sutter to be rather obnoxious and at the beginning I admired his light hearted outlook on life and how memories are being made this very moment so why waste it but as the book went on the act wore thin with me. I didn't feel like I got to know the real Sutter but I guess everyone who is suppose to be close to him in the book doesn't either and I really didn't like the ending much as it almost seems to me as if he gives up on life at the end by just staying the same and accepting he will not move any further and the best of his years have been and gone now that everyone dis moving to university rather than embracing the future and the inevitability of growing up. I didn't really understand if he did truly love Amiee till near the end but he chooses to push her away and throughout the novel he seems to refer to Cassidy in such a way that it made the idea of him moving along and embracing the idea of Amiee incredibly fake which put me off him as a character. I also didn't much like how Amiee was portrayed in the novel as such a stereotypical geek (the kind that can only exist in books) compared to the way Shaileen Woodley played her character which gave Amiee a realistic idea of what a 'inexperienced geek that had to be saved' was really which is nothing but a normal school girl who has chosen to not go out and get drunk all the time. It's not a bad read but I had to force myself to get through it a bit but I am glad I watched the film before hand otherwise I think I may have given up with reading the novel. Take from this what you will I feel like I have been incredibly negative and thats not my intention I do love the way Sutter views the world at the beginning of the novel and the fact that Amiee has such wonderful dreams and aspirations but I feel certain aspects of the book wear slightly thin, SORRY!
As I had watched the film first I thought I already knew the story line and the characters but instead the film is rather different from the original story in the book. This normally never happens but I did prefer the film, I found the main character Sutter to be rather obnoxious and at the beginning I admired his light hearted outlook on life and how memories are being made this very moment so why waste it but as the book went on the act wore thin with me. I didn't feel like I got to know the real Sutter but I guess everyone who is suppose to be close to him in the book doesn't either and I really didn't like the ending much as it almost seems to me as if he gives up on life at the end by just staying the same and accepting he will not move any further and the best of his years have been and gone now that everyone dis moving to university rather than embracing the future and the inevitability of growing up. I didn't really understand if he did truly love Amiee till near the end but he chooses to push her away and throughout the novel he seems to refer to Cassidy in such a way that it made the idea of him moving along and embracing the idea of Amiee incredibly fake which put me off him as a character. I also didn't much like how Amiee was portrayed in the novel as such a stereotypical geek (the kind that can only exist in books) compared to the way Shaileen Woodley played her character which gave Amiee a realistic idea of what a 'inexperienced geek that had to be saved' was really which is nothing but a normal school girl who has chosen to not go out and get drunk all the time. It's not a bad read but I had to force myself to get through it a bit but I am glad I watched the film before hand otherwise I think I may have given up with reading the novel. Take from this what you will I feel like I have been incredibly negative and thats not my intention I do love the way Sutter views the world at the beginning of the novel and the fact that Amiee has such wonderful dreams and aspirations but I feel certain aspects of the book wear slightly thin, SORRY!
I had this whole rant planned out about how people like Sutter don’t exist and dudes don’t just change because some nice girl comes along. But damn. I guess I didn’t need that. Sutters do exist. They fuck you over. You’re the collateral for their bad decisions. But it’s okay because they are “trying.”
I saw so many people I knew in Sutter. It made me mad as hell when I was reading and I had to stop a few times because it was just too real. But I guess that’s what makes a good book. It left me totally heartbroken.
Recommended for people that don’t like a happy ending and characters that feel like you’ve met them before.
I saw so many people I knew in Sutter. It made me mad as hell when I was reading and I had to stop a few times because it was just too real. But I guess that’s what makes a good book. It left me totally heartbroken.
Recommended for people that don’t like a happy ending and characters that feel like you’ve met them before.
Weird. Didn't love it and I didn't connect with Aimee. I Felt she was an incomplete character, like I was always waiting for the big reveal on her.... Not what I thought it would be. I loved Sutter, though
Admittedly, I have a somewhat unhealthy love for Young Adult fiction. Hey, I majored in Secondary Education and English with the idea that I would teach cool books (and other things) to high school kids. I am also trying to stay ahead of my son, who is a high middle-grade reader. I'd like to be able to recommend good things for him to read that will ensure he keeps the reading bug as he gets older and has more demands pulling at his time. So I'm always on the lookout for good YA fiction.
The Spectacular Now came highly recommended, and although I was ultimately disappointed in the ending, there is much to admire. The main character is one of the most well-developed I've ever read. Sutterman is complicated and real, and hilarious and heartbreaking. He smacks of Holden Caulfield but, but without Phoebe, and is honestly far more messed up. He needs to be parented, but really, he needed to be parented five years ago.
The part where Sutterman re-connects with his father is just heartbreaking, but it is the necessary turning point in the novel, and the catalyst to change his life. Sad though the meeting is, it brings clarity to a very cloudy kid. His first step is behaving honorably toward a much less cool girlfriend...you could say that they save each other in a way. You know that somewhere off stage, he breaks Aimee's heart, but that breakage will allow her to move on and live the life she was planning, or something closer to it, than she could have with Sutterman by her side. He's a good kid who seems to be edging his compass in the right direction.
Lots of swearing, drinking, and some drugs. Sex, but not graphic. I'd recommend this book for 9th graders and older.
The Spectacular Now came highly recommended, and although I was ultimately disappointed in the ending, there is much to admire. The main character is one of the most well-developed I've ever read. Sutterman is complicated and real, and hilarious and heartbreaking. He smacks of Holden Caulfield but, but without Phoebe, and is honestly far more messed up. He needs to be parented, but really, he needed to be parented five years ago.
The part where Sutterman re-connects with his father is just heartbreaking, but it is the necessary turning point in the novel, and the catalyst to change his life. Sad though the meeting is, it brings clarity to a very cloudy kid. His first step is behaving honorably toward a much less cool girlfriend...you could say that they save each other in a way. You know that somewhere off stage, he breaks Aimee's heart, but that breakage will allow her to move on and live the life she was planning, or something closer to it, than she could have with Sutterman by her side. He's a good kid who seems to be edging his compass in the right direction.
Lots of swearing, drinking, and some drugs. Sex, but not graphic. I'd recommend this book for 9th graders and older.
I wanted to love this. I really wanted to love this book.
The first half of the book was intro'ing the characters, letting you get to know everyone.
Unfortunately, it spiraled from there. As I got to know everyone more and more. The sadder I got, the more disbelieving I was. This wasn't the book I'd hoped it to be. Instead it just made me sad and frustrated.
I hope with all my heart, for once, that the movie is better than the book.
The first half of the book was intro'ing the characters, letting you get to know everyone.
Unfortunately, it spiraled from there. As I got to know everyone more and more. The sadder I got, the more disbelieving I was. This wasn't the book I'd hoped it to be. Instead it just made me sad and frustrated.
I hope with all my heart, for once, that the movie is better than the book.