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jdintr 's review for:
The Spectacular Now
by Tim Tharp
Tharp set out in this novel to break the rules of the YA novel. Mission accomplished.
Exhibit 1: the male narrator. What in the name of Holden Caulfield has happened in YA lit in recent years? Female narrators, if not female voices, have dominated the genre in recent years. Tharp takes a pretty recognizable boy--the party animal, the good-time friend--and he gives him a brain and a sensitivity that is both warm and refreshing. Sutter Keely never quite recovers from the end of the relationship at the beginning of the book, but he never lowers himself to exploit Aimee either.
Exhibit 2: a hyper realistic look at a number of segments of teen life. Sutter is open about his alcoholism, and the tone of the book seems to accept it until close to the end. With all of the driving Sutter describes, the absence of problems may seem unrealistic. Sex is engaged with thought and caution. Sutter seems willing to accept "no" as no, and to say yes only after avoiding going all the way. Needless to say, this will end up on quite a few district "censored" lists, which will make it all the more popular among teens.
Exhibit 3: the ending, where the boy changes to meet the aspirations of his true love (loves in Sutter's case). Yeah. I don't want to give it away (and I prefer the more hopeful movie ending to the book), but the ending fits the character, not the format.
As my daughter said after she read it, too, "I expected him to change for Aimee, and he didn't." Aimee, on the other hand, begins to abuse alcohol with Sutter, but ends the story strengthened by both his affections and *spoiler* his abandonment.
My only quibble with the book is just how thoughtful Sutter is. Writing as a 'recovering teenage boy of 42' myself, I stumbled through that age with about 1/8th of the perception that he shows. Is Sutter idealized, or is he just the insightful side of the party-crasher that none of us ever noticed?
Exhibit 1: the male narrator. What in the name of Holden Caulfield has happened in YA lit in recent years? Female narrators, if not female voices, have dominated the genre in recent years. Tharp takes a pretty recognizable boy--the party animal, the good-time friend--and he gives him a brain and a sensitivity that is both warm and refreshing. Sutter Keely never quite recovers from the end of the relationship at the beginning of the book, but he never lowers himself to exploit Aimee either.
Exhibit 2: a hyper realistic look at a number of segments of teen life. Sutter is open about his alcoholism, and the tone of the book seems to accept it until close to the end. With all of the driving Sutter describes, the absence of problems may seem unrealistic. Sex is engaged with thought and caution. Sutter seems willing to accept "no" as no, and to say yes only after avoiding going all the way. Needless to say, this will end up on quite a few district "censored" lists, which will make it all the more popular among teens.
Exhibit 3: the ending, where the boy changes to meet the aspirations of his true love (loves in Sutter's case). Yeah. I don't want to give it away (and I prefer the more hopeful movie ending to the book), but the ending fits the character, not the format.
As my daughter said after she read it, too, "I expected him to change for Aimee, and he didn't." Aimee, on the other hand, begins to abuse alcohol with Sutter, but ends the story strengthened by both his affections and *spoiler* his abandonment.
My only quibble with the book is just how thoughtful Sutter is. Writing as a 'recovering teenage boy of 42' myself, I stumbled through that age with about 1/8th of the perception that he shows. Is Sutter idealized, or is he just the insightful side of the party-crasher that none of us ever noticed?