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3.37 AVERAGE
3.37 AVERAGE
I wasn't blown away by this book. I found Sutter's lack of desire for self improvement a bit annoying. All in all, it was an ok read.
High school senior Sutter Keely is enjoying the Now, not worried about the future at all. He drinks nearly constantly, from 7up flask; is "life of the party". Screws up relationship with girlfriend Cassidy by not taking it seriously enough. She dumps him. Then takes on Aimee as a "project," thinking he can get this shy nerdy sci-fi geek horse-loving dreamer to be more sociable like him. (Introduces her to alcohol, namely.) Finds himself falling for her, but knows it'll never work out. He's pretty shallow the whole way through, but is also entertaining, charming, and captivating. For high school and up: lots of references to drinking and sex.
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this book many years ago in high school. Today, as I was sitting in my bed, the whole story suddenly came back to me. This is one of those books for me—a story with characters that were so raw that I still think about it before bed so much later.
I probably wouldn’t have given it 5 stars at the time of reading, but I’m here giving it that today.
I probably wouldn’t have given it 5 stars at the time of reading, but I’m here giving it that today.
I’m not sure if this book would have affected me quite as much if I didn’t know this boy. He is one of the people that I love the most on this planet, and he shares more DNA with me than anyone else. He’s intelligent, effortlessly popular, charming, kind, and entertaining. He has a big heart, fragile and exposed. We once spent hours in our backyard collecting slugs and setting them up in their very own tree stump castle. Once when he was facing a spanking, we schemed and plotted, arming ourselves with sticks for weapons. We were thick as thieves. But we all deal with the stress and trauma of childhood in different ways; we all have our coping mechanisms. As we grew up we fumbled our way down different roads, which led us further and further apart. I learned how to live inside my own skin, fired to hardness like pottery. He learned to smother everything under a chemically induced happiness.
I think that’s the most heartbreaking thing about Sutter Keely – he’s smothering himself. I can so easily feel the pain seeping out of the cracks in his bonhomie: when he reflects on all the girls that like him, but never seem to love him; when he thinks about how much better off his father is, now that he’s no longer living with his mother; when he tells the mother of a lost child, “Your son is hurting. He misses his Dad.” He can so clearly see the pain of others, but he can’t see his own grief, disappointment, and heartbreak at all. He’s the shoulder everyone likes to cry on, and he can’t see a friend in pain without trying to fix it, but he has no ability to fix himself.
I think that this is one of the most accurate portrayals of addiction that I’ve read. So many books tend to gloss over it, or go in the other direction and become “issue” books, and completely forget that addicts are still people. This book captures so much of the essence of addiction, and the first person narration lets us in on all of the bullshit he feeds himself to cope with the loneliness and self-hatred.
I know that the ending seems dark, but I found a bit of hope in this story. Aimee and Sutter are two lost kids, and while there are moments of honesty and beauty in their relationship, they cannot build anything solid when they are both dealing (or not dealing) with so many internal battles. Sutter’s method of seems incredibly realistic to me: both selfless and selfish at the same time, and suffused with his heartbreaking lack of self-worth. I’d like to find hope in That may be just because I’d like to hope that my brother can get better someday, though.
Perfect Musical Pairing
Bright Eyes – Landlocked Blues
So many parts of this song remind me of this book: the questionable security of the future, isolation, the liquid cure, the “one quotable phrase, ‘if you love something give it away.’”
Also seen on The Readventurer.
I think that’s the most heartbreaking thing about Sutter Keely – he’s smothering himself. I can so easily feel the pain seeping out of the cracks in his bonhomie: when he reflects on all the girls that like him, but never seem to love him; when he thinks about how much better off his father is, now that he’s no longer living with his mother; when he tells the mother of a lost child, “Your son is hurting. He misses his Dad.” He can so clearly see the pain of others, but he can’t see his own grief, disappointment, and heartbreak at all. He’s the shoulder everyone likes to cry on, and he can’t see a friend in pain without trying to fix it, but he has no ability to fix himself.
I think that this is one of the most accurate portrayals of addiction that I’ve read. So many books tend to gloss over it, or go in the other direction and become “issue” books, and completely forget that addicts are still people. This book captures so much of the essence of addiction, and the first person narration lets us in on all of the bullshit he feeds himself to cope with the loneliness and self-hatred.
I know that the ending seems dark, but I found a bit of hope in this story. Aimee and Sutter are two lost kids, and while there are moments of honesty and beauty in their relationship, they cannot build anything solid when they are both dealing (or not dealing) with so many internal battles. Sutter’s method of
Spoiler
ending thingsSpoiler
Sutter’s increasing lows. Pain like that can’t be contained forever, and I do feel that despite the ending, he has begun to see certain things more clearly.Perfect Musical Pairing
Bright Eyes – Landlocked Blues
So many parts of this song remind me of this book: the questionable security of the future, isolation, the liquid cure, the “one quotable phrase, ‘if you love something give it away.’”
Also seen on The Readventurer.
Really I'd rate it 2.5 stars. There's nothing particularly spectacular about a high school alcoholic. At least he gets Aimee out of her shell and does the right thing in the end.
A solid 3.5 stars.
This was a quick read. It's a coming of age story about about an alcoholic teen boy as he struggles through making sense of himself, his family, and romantic relationships. It's definitely a book guys would dig.
Positives: interesting characters, quick pace, and not many loose ends. It's a good book that's definitely good for males, which is rare, but more rare in that it would appeal to female readers as well.
Negatives: I think the father storyline isn't well developed, and I think that we don't get to know Sutter well enough from the start of the novel to see that the way he makes up stories or finds certain people interesting makes sense. At the end we certainly do, but it could have been better fleshed out from the start.
This was a quick read. It's a coming of age story about about an alcoholic teen boy as he struggles through making sense of himself, his family, and romantic relationships. It's definitely a book guys would dig.
Positives: interesting characters, quick pace, and not many loose ends. It's a good book that's definitely good for males, which is rare, but more rare in that it would appeal to female readers as well.
Negatives: I think the father storyline isn't well developed, and I think that we don't get to know Sutter well enough from the start of the novel to see that the way he makes up stories or finds certain people interesting makes sense. At the end we certainly do, but it could have been better fleshed out from the start.
This is a "love it or hate it" kind of book. But it's very thought provoking, and I think it would make for an excellent discussion book.
3.5-4 stars. Somewhere around there. Truth is, this book was pretty depressing, which is also what made it good.
This book was frustrating and left me unsatisfied with the ending. I think I was supposed to be sympathetic for the MC. At times I was but overall I just felt like he was a douche with no redeeming qualities except for being fun at a party. I left this book feeling blech/meh. At least the writing itself wasn't crappy.
I still kinda want to see the movie though just to see how they pull it off.
I still kinda want to see the movie though just to see how they pull it off.