Title: The Spectacular Now
Author: Tim Tharp
Series: None
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: November 1, 2008
Genre: Realistic Fiction; Contemporary; Romance; Coming-of-Age; Young Adult
Pages: 304
SUTTER KEELY. He’s the guy you want at your
party. He’ll get everyone dancing. He’ ll get everyone in your parents’ pool.
Okay, so he’s not exactly a shining academic star. He has no plans for college
and will probably end up folding men’s shirts for a living. But there are
plenty of ladies in town, and with the help of Dean Martin and Seagram’s V.O.,
life’s pretty fabuloso, actually.
Until the morning he wakes up on a random front lawn, and he meets Aimee. Aimee’s clueless. Aimee is a social disaster. Aimee needs help, and it’s up to the Sutterman to show Aimee a splendiferous time and then let her go forth and prosper. But Aimee’s not like other girls, and before long he’s in way over his head. For the first time in his life, he has the power to make a difference in someone else’s life—or ruin it forever.
Until the morning he wakes up on a random front lawn, and he meets Aimee. Aimee’s clueless. Aimee is a social disaster. Aimee needs help, and it’s up to the Sutterman to show Aimee a splendiferous time and then let her go forth and prosper. But Aimee’s not like other girls, and before long he’s in way over his head. For the first time in his life, he has the power to make a difference in someone else’s life—or ruin it forever.
“Life is an ocean, and most everyone’s hanging on to some kind of dream to keep afloat.”
The Spectacular Now was on my to-read list for a while, and it seemed like kismet when it was just sitting there on the shelf at the library, daring me to pick it up. Since it was made into a movie, and also won many awards, I figured it would good. Great, even. And I was only a little bit disappointed.
Sutter Keely has one philosophy: To live in the Spectacular Now. The future and past don’t matter. All that matters is the here and now, and living it to your fullest capabilities. Anything else is obsolete. That beautiful thought has guided Sutter his whole life. When he meets Aimee, he decides she needs help in recognizing the Spectacular Now. But even when he tries to change Aimee, Aimee changes him in ways he would never expect.
Tharp’s writing was powerful and, at times, beautiful. Sutter’s thoughts were surprisingly accurate to a modern teenager’s. Sutter was more than a character; he was part of the book and he was telling the reader a story. I was blown away with how true some of his thoughts were. And while I didn’t agree with everything he believed in, it was interesting to be submerged in such a different way of thinking than my own.
The Spectacular Now’s target audience is directed to the more mature of the young adult audience. Alcohol plays a big part in the story, and while I see how it ties into Sutter’s character and story, it quickly got excessive. The ending was not a crowd-pleaser. It was not even a real ending. It was more an open-ended prompt. The story cut off and the author left you to your own devices to imagine what happened next. Maybe it’s just me, but I like closure with my books.
While I can see the reason for all the hype for The Spectacular Now, I’m not sure I can exactly join the fan club. I have no regrets in reading it, but it won’t have a home on my favorite book shelf. Worth reading, but not exactly worth loving.
"Embrace the weird, dude. Enjoy it because it's never going away."
No comments:
Post a Comment