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3.37 AVERAGE
3.37 AVERAGE
This review will probably contain spoilers.
Sutter is happy. Sutter loves to party. Sutter's idea of a good time is to get absolutely, fabulously, splendiferously wasted.
This is the kind of message that the reader is fed from Sutter's narrative throughout the book. However, I believe Sutter is a very unreliable narrator. No matter how much he tells himself he just drinks to have fun, Sutter is an alcoholic. It may not have too much effect on him, but he is definitely an alcoholic and he can't even see it.
And I think that's what makes me so sad at the end. Not that he has decided not to see Aimee again, as I wasn't overly invested in their relationship, but that he threw away what made him happy and in the final seen he gets absolutely, fabulously, splendiferously wasted. Or that's how he tries to tell himself it feels.
In this book, I really love part of Aimee's development as a character, and really hate part of it as well. I love that she becomes more confident and can stand up for herself and have a spectacular time, but I hate that Sutter 'accidentally' coalesces her into alcoholism. I say accidentally because he never forced her to drink which is the logic he has that makes him feel okay about it, but really, when he is the person Aimee loves most in the world and he is constantly drinking, how could she not too?
Sutter has such an outgoing persona and is the life and soul of every party, but behind all that he has family and alcohol issues, and he just becomes progressively lonelier as he loses Ricky and Cassidy and eventually Aimee too. And he can't even see it himself. One thing I didn't like about Aimee was her clinginess, particularly paired with Sutter's inability to say no to her. Anyone can see that asking your fairly recent boyfriend to come and live with you is not normal, but Sutter just can't say no.
Although their relationship was rather lovely, I can't help but feel that Aimee and Sutter would be better suited as friends. I don't know if anyone else thinks that but I didn't feel anything for their romantic relationship. Aimee was desperate and lonely, and Sutter was trying to be a hero and help Aimee, never really thinking about whether he actually loved her or not. I suspect that he did, but still.
At first Aimee was interesting with her dreams of space and horses (I tried not to judge on the horses front), but she became so invested in Sutter that this was lost later in the novel. Which I guess is realistic when she is hanging around with a party loving alcoholic all the time, but it made me realise I didn't like a lot of the ways in which Sutter was changing her.
Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I have strong feelings about it but I'm just not sure what they are yet.
Sutter is happy. Sutter loves to party. Sutter's idea of a good time is to get absolutely, fabulously, splendiferously wasted.
This is the kind of message that the reader is fed from Sutter's narrative throughout the book. However, I believe Sutter is a very unreliable narrator. No matter how much he tells himself he just drinks to have fun, Sutter is an alcoholic. It may not have too much effect on him, but he is definitely an alcoholic and he can't even see it.
And I think that's what makes me so sad at the end. Not that he has decided not to see Aimee again, as I wasn't overly invested in their relationship, but that he threw away what made him happy and in the final seen he gets absolutely, fabulously, splendiferously wasted. Or that's how he tries to tell himself it feels.
In this book, I really love part of Aimee's development as a character, and really hate part of it as well. I love that she becomes more confident and can stand up for herself and have a spectacular time, but I hate that Sutter 'accidentally' coalesces her into alcoholism. I say accidentally because he never forced her to drink which is the logic he has that makes him feel okay about it, but really, when he is the person Aimee loves most in the world and he is constantly drinking, how could she not too?
Sutter has such an outgoing persona and is the life and soul of every party, but behind all that he has family and alcohol issues, and he just becomes progressively lonelier as he loses Ricky and Cassidy and eventually Aimee too. And he can't even see it himself. One thing I didn't like about Aimee was her clinginess, particularly paired with Sutter's inability to say no to her. Anyone can see that asking your fairly recent boyfriend to come and live with you is not normal, but Sutter just can't say no.
Although their relationship was rather lovely, I can't help but feel that Aimee and Sutter would be better suited as friends. I don't know if anyone else thinks that but I didn't feel anything for their romantic relationship. Aimee was desperate and lonely, and Sutter was trying to be a hero and help Aimee, never really thinking about whether he actually loved her or not. I suspect that he did, but still.
At first Aimee was interesting with her dreams of space and horses (I tried not to judge on the horses front), but she became so invested in Sutter that this was lost later in the novel. Which I guess is realistic when she is hanging around with a party loving alcoholic all the time, but it made me realise I didn't like a lot of the ways in which Sutter was changing her.
Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I have strong feelings about it but I'm just not sure what they are yet.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Maybe I'm dense, but I did not really understand the point of this book. Maybe if Sutter had shown some character development, I would have appreciated this story more, but he just irritated me to know end. Perhaps I'm in denial and don't want to think about the fact that guys I've dated have probably thought about how ugly my hair or makeup looked, but every time he thought something negative about Aimee, I just got pissed. He always looked down on her, and it was so annoying. In his inner dialogue, he said that he hated pretentious people, and when I read that I was just like, "HA!" because he was pretentious this entire story, and it prevented me from enjoying the other characters. If he had shown some progress with his alcoholism or dumbassery, maybe I would have liked the story more.
Also I hate that Aimee never made amends with her friend Krista or Kristal or whatever her name was.
AND when I read the Buzzfeed article about this, it said that Sundance reviews for the movie said that John Hughes would be proud. I call BULLSHIT. Do not compare this crap to John fucking Hughes.
Also I hate that Aimee never made amends with her friend Krista or Kristal or whatever her name was.
AND when I read the Buzzfeed article about this, it said that Sundance reviews for the movie said that John Hughes would be proud. I call BULLSHIT. Do not compare this crap to John fucking Hughes.
My God, the ending of this book is painful. This is the first book I think I have ever read entirely in one sitting, and for good reason. Tim Tharp has written a phenomenal book here that anyone who’s been through their senior year of high school can relate to.
It’s poignant, it’s funny, and its ending is just downright painful. The book is about the intersection between our dreams and reality, between our mental constructs and how things play out as we grow up. It tells the story of how some people achieve their lofty dreams and about how others never quite live up to their own expectations, withering away in time.
The book’s narrator, Sutter Keely, is every high schooler – he wants everything to stay the same, gliding through his days as a “popular” kid, living in “the spectacular now.” But through the course of the novel, things change around him and everyone and everything he has ever loved slowly slip through his hands. He constantly tries to live in the past, telling old party stories and hanging out with ex-girlfriends. In the end, Sutter’s insistence on living in the moment leads to his downfall, in a heart-wrenching conclusion.
I don’t want to say any more about this book, as it really speaks for itself. Read it. Watch the movie – it’s equally as good as the novel. I highly, highly, highly recommend it.
It’s poignant, it’s funny, and its ending is just downright painful. The book is about the intersection between our dreams and reality, between our mental constructs and how things play out as we grow up. It tells the story of how some people achieve their lofty dreams and about how others never quite live up to their own expectations, withering away in time.
The book’s narrator, Sutter Keely, is every high schooler – he wants everything to stay the same, gliding through his days as a “popular” kid, living in “the spectacular now.” But through the course of the novel, things change around him and everyone and everything he has ever loved slowly slip through his hands. He constantly tries to live in the past, telling old party stories and hanging out with ex-girlfriends. In the end, Sutter’s insistence on living in the moment leads to his downfall, in a heart-wrenching conclusion.
I don’t want to say any more about this book, as it really speaks for itself. Read it. Watch the movie – it’s equally as good as the novel. I highly, highly, highly recommend it.
This book was much darker than I anticipated. I figured in the end the drinking problem would be solved and like a John Green novel the boy and shy girl would end up happily together. This was way more complex. The message of this story is that even if two people care about each other they can still do each other incredible harm and it's better to be seperate. I liked that the ending was clean happy and tied in a bow. In real life, conflicts are sometimes ignored not solved.
Those 2 stars were only for Aimee.
Sutter is worse than Holden Caufield. At least Holden accepted he was miserable and boring though most times he wasn't. Sutter, as deep and gentlemanly and spectacular he thinks he is, but nothing but shallow and actually cowardly.
Sutter is worse than Holden Caufield. At least Holden accepted he was miserable and boring though most times he wasn't. Sutter, as deep and gentlemanly and spectacular he thinks he is, but nothing but shallow and actually cowardly.
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Well written, interesting how all the other main characters get epilogues except for Sutter, who simply lives in his "spectacular now" and can't bother with the future. I just wasn't very impressed with the book. I feel like it had a lot of potential that was never fleshed out fully, and made very blatant social commentary that I felt did not have much to do with the message the author was trying to get across.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes