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lexmcgnns 's review for:
The Spectacular Now
by Tim Tharp
All I remember feeling after finishing this book was annoyed. I even took to twitter to have a little rant about how the conclusion made me feel. I was disappointed – not with the author, no, on the contrary. This book was well written, the story well executed and very, very real. – no, I was mostly annoyed with the protagonist, Sutter Keely. It's not very often I get as invested with a character as I did. I stupidly hoped that he'd sort himself out and that he'd get his happy ending (which is unusual because I'm the advocate of dark depressing endings) but no, he didn't. The worse part was that even though you hoped differently you knew it was coming because of his descent in the final few chapters. I think whilst it was a sad ending, it was necessary. It gave people an idea of how things happen in real life, which is probably why it's so popular with the ya community.
The character of Sutter Keely is a treasure. So real and rich, vibrant, multidimensional and loveable; even when you were disgusted or let down by his actions you were still compelled to like him because of his natural charm and his unapologetic way of doing things just because he wanted to. He takes a philosophical view of life and is very self-aware of how cruel it can be but still tries to go on and live it with some joy. All credit goes to the author, of course; He knew what he was doing. So brilliantly created that most people can recognize the attitude and see it in someone they know, which was very smart of Tim Tharp. It's not often that you can be exasperated and intrigued by a character. Especially in a stand-alone novel, which only allows for so much character development.
Sutter's own downward spiral is shown subtly, you're naturally concerned with the amount he drinks, but the real awareness comes from the changing attitude of the people around him and the dissolution of all his relationships. He's very aware of his own problems and where they stem from, but he makes no active effort to sort himself out and that's what infuriating. He's all too eager to push aside his own issues to help someone else.
I can definitely see why this book gets high reviews and on a good day I would definitely bump it up to a 4, but I'm going to have to stick with 3.5 stars just because I still hold a grudge for poor Aimee.
The character of Sutter Keely is a treasure. So real and rich, vibrant, multidimensional and loveable; even when you were disgusted or let down by his actions you were still compelled to like him because of his natural charm and his unapologetic way of doing things just because he wanted to. He takes a philosophical view of life and is very self-aware of how cruel it can be but still tries to go on and live it with some joy. All credit goes to the author, of course; He knew what he was doing. So brilliantly created that most people can recognize the attitude and see it in someone they know, which was very smart of Tim Tharp. It's not often that you can be exasperated and intrigued by a character. Especially in a stand-alone novel, which only allows for so much character development.
Sutter's own downward spiral is shown subtly, you're naturally concerned with the amount he drinks, but the real awareness comes from the changing attitude of the people around him and the dissolution of all his relationships. He's very aware of his own problems and where they stem from, but he makes no active effort to sort himself out and that's what infuriating. He's all too eager to push aside his own issues to help someone else.
I can definitely see why this book gets high reviews and on a good day I would definitely bump it up to a 4, but I'm going to have to stick with 3.5 stars just because I still hold a grudge for poor Aimee.