blakehalsey 's review for:

The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp

4.0

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Tharp's book about Sutter Keely, infamous party boy who meets a girl he tries to give a backbone, is a truly amazingly written book. The character development, even for the most minor characters, is excellent, true to life, and so nicely executed that I almost found myself really believing all of these people exist. Hell, maybe they do. My one disappointment in the book is the ending--it's sad. Not tragically sad, but in a way that made me tear up a little for old Sutter. Throughout the book, he did grow--he grew to love a girl enough to know he wasn't good for her. But, he didn't grow in a way that gave him any confidence in himself, in his ability to do another person good by being there with that person. True, that's life. People don't always change the way we want them to. While satisfying, the book left me feeling a little depressed for Sutter, though extremely hopeful that he wouldn't turn out like his dad.