Customer Reviews

The Spectacular Now

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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Well, darkness has a hunger that's insatiable" -- Emily Saliers

"Forget the dark things. Take a drink and let time wash them away to wherever time washes things away to." -- Sutter Keely

THE SPECTACULAR NOW is such an achingly humor-filled, intensely sad story, that it has taken me a couple of days of processing the emotions it stirred up before being able to talk about Sutter Keely. Having previously included KNIGHTS OF THE HILL COUNTRY (Tharp's previous book for teens) on my Best of 2006 list, I was well aware of the author's abilities, but this second book is Something Else. It is one that absolutely should be added to high school collections and to required reading lists for YA Lit students.

High school senior Sutter Keely is great friends with a long line of ex-girlfriends. He has a superb sense of humor, plays well with his peers, is forever the life of the party, and professes his affinity for embracing the weird. But as his latest relationship crumbles, he asks himself, "Why is it that girls like me so much but never love me." And, of course, as we come to learn, it is the damaged young alcoholic himself, and not the girls, who has the real problem. Or a number of real problems.

But then he has a chance pre-dawn meeting with a girl he's never noticed who is so unlike his partying crowd:

"She jerks back, startled to see me move. 'You're alive,' she says. 'I thought maybe you were dead.'

"I'm like, 'I don't think I'm dead.' But right now I can't exactly be sure of anything. 'Where the hell am I?'

"'You're in the middle of the yard,' she says. 'Do you know someone who lives here?'

"I sit up and look at the house -- an ugly, little, pink brick one with a window air-conditioner unit. 'No, I never saw it before.'

"'Were you in a wreck or something?'

"'Not that I know of, Why? Where's my car?'

"'Is it one of those?' She points toward the street where two cars are parked along the curb on our side and a junky white pickup is parked on the other side. The pickup's engine is idling so I guess it must be hers.

"'No, I drive a Mitsubishi,' I say. 'Jesus, I must have gone to sleep.' I look around, trying to gather my wits a little. A scraggly elm tree hangs over us and you can just see the moon through the branches. There's a rickety lawn chair stationed in the middle of the yard, and two beer cans lie in the grass a couple of feet away. I vaguely remember sitting in that lawn chair at some point, but I don't remember how I got there.

"'So,' she asks. 'You don't know where you left your car?'

"'Let me think for a second," I say, but my head's not really up for thinking. 'No, it's no good. I don't remember where it is. Maybe I parked it at home and just went out for a walk.

"She shakes her head. 'No, I don't think you live in this neighborhood, Sutter.'

"That surprises the hell out of me right there. 'How did you know my name? Were we talking a while ago or something?'

"'We go to the same high school,' she says, but she doesn't say it like I'm an idiot. She has a kind voice, kind eyes. She looks at me like I'm a bird she found with a broken wing."

Fellow senior Aimee Finecky has struggled to create order amidst the chaos that permeates her home life. She sees the path out of town and she has attained the grades necessary to head there. She has created a sanctuary of a bedroom. And then, as she completes her mother's nocturnal paper route alone -- while mom is off to the Indian casino -- she finds her schoolmate Sutter passed out in that front yard. So begins the story of Sutter and Aimee.

"'Oh yeah.' I take a long pull on the martini. 'Childhood was a fantastic country to live in.'"

There is so much more to this tale. For instance, Sutter's observations on the superficiality of the interaction taking place at his married sister's party -- in contrast to what he's experienced in hanging with his friends -- are hysterically funny and incredibly thought provoking. And Sutter's friend Ricky's meditations upon the longing desire for the miraculous, the role of drugs and alcohol in trying to resurrect the miraculous, and the built-in obsolescence that causes such remedies to ultimately fail when they are relied upon for filling the emptiness, are the kind of jaw-dropping amazing introspections that are so rarely developed to such an exquisite degree in young adult literature.

THE SPECTACULAR NOW impacted me so emotionally that I couldn't even think about reading something else for a few days.

"This stage in the life of the buzz is truly fabulous. It's not even a buzz anymore. It's a roar. The world opens up and everything's yours right here, right now. You've probably heard the expression -- All good things must come to an end. Well, this stage in the life of the buzz never heard anything close to that. This stage says, 'I will never end, I am indestructible. I will last fabulously forever.' And, of course, you believe it. To hell with tomorrow. To hell with all problems and barriers. Nothing matters but the Spectacular Now."

Summary: It's senior year, and Sutter Keely is living large with a beautiful girlfriend and an endless supply of whiskey. His girlfriend wants him to do something he can't quite remember, but why worry about that when you can live in the now?

Review: Sutter's charm is simultaneously entertaining and heartbreaking. You get the feeling that it's a front for something, which of course it is.

This is not a feel-good story, but it is a real story. A real snapshot into the life of a young man who drinks morning, noon, and night. Because if he drinks, he can be the life of the party and live in the moment. And if he can live in the moment, he doesn't have to think about his past or his future.

I heard this was a finalist for the National Book Award in teen fiction. Well deserved! The book is real and raw and the main character so likable. An awesome read!

Beautifully written, this book covers subject areas I've rarely seen in young adult fiction. At first, I was slightly put off by the drinking and the sex, which isn't graphic, but it's part of the life of the main character. The book is driven by the sad--tragic, even--main character, a brilliant, charismatic, kindhearted, well-meaning, fun-loving 18-year-old alcoholic. The book is thought-provoking and so very sad. There is a plot, but this is mostly a character study. You wouldn't think a character study would be so compelling, but the book is hard to put down once started. It ought to be required reading for sophomores in high school. This book was nominated for a 2008 National Book Award, and that nomination was completely deserved. At the imdb website, it appears that a movie based on the novel is in production; I look forward to that. They'll need an amazing actor, like a young John Cusak or Sean Penn to carry it off, though.

I'm only an occasional reader of YA fiction, and this is another case where it didn't really occur to me that this was book aimed at teen readers until I was halfway through it. The original first-person voice of Oklahoma City teenager Sutter Keely grabbed me from the start, and his alcohol-fueled misadventures during spring term of senior year make for a surprisingly compelling read. Sutter is the classic "life of the party" mixed with classic "nice guy with a heart of gold" (a possibly mythical combination that I've never encountered in real life). He's the kind of character who is still good friends with his lengthy list of ex-girlfriends, all of whom eventually dump him after realizing that he's only interested in living for the moment.

Unfortunately for him, he's also an alcoholic -- one whose antics tread the line between funny and dangerous. Early in the story, the charming drunk is dumped by his apparently awesome girlfriend, and while he schemes for a way to win her back, he befriends a weedy wallflower of a girl. Fortunately, the book mostly avoids the cliche of the ugly duck turned swan (and even directly references that particular genre of teen movie), even while making their relationship believable and kind of heartbreaking. The raw material is a mix of R-rated teen comedy and "issues" of the ilk that tend to pollute much YA fiction. What makes the book stand out is its total disregard for the traditional character arc that would lead Sutter toward some kind of self-discovery/realization/change.

Indeed, that may prove to be off-putting to many readers, who will be expecting some kind of feel-good ending. The story certainly sets up that expectation, and to a certain extent, it is a feel-good ending -- but an utterly real one, not a made-for-Hollywood one. In the end, it struck me as both a funny and brave book, neither of which qualities I tend to associate with YA books.

Note: Those sensitive to depictions of teen alcohol and drug use, teen sex, and stuff like drunk driving will want to stay far away from this.

Flawed but endearing characters take center stage in this incredible novel by Tim Tharp. Sutter's voice will live in your head and heart, infiltrating your life with his unforgettableness.

Sutter, of course, is the shining star of this novel, the sole reason why this book succeeds so well for me. He is probably a parent's worst nightmare, the kind of kid you wouldn't want as your own...and yet Tharp creates Sutter in such a way that you can't help but feel for him, even when he's off doing stupid, immature things. I am in awe of how we readers are able to understand Sutter more than he seems to understand himself, a schism between character and reader's knowledge that's difficult to achieve. Sutter doesn't think much of himself, but his actions and implied thoughts speak for him otherwise, and we readers can see what he doesn't about him.

If you're looking for a marvelous, memorable voice in YA fiction and are not too easily disturbed by liberal mentions of drinking, cursing, and sex, pick up THE SPECTACULAR NOW and prepare to be amazed.

I am a huge fan of CATCHER IN THE RYE and not since Holden Caulfield have I read such a real, tragic, funny, unforgettable character. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. One of the best books I've read.

This book has a voice you won't ever forget. The main character has obvious problems, but you will love him intensely. I cannot recommend this book highly enough, especially for aspiring authors out there. Study this book if you want to know how to create powerful characters.

I listed to the audio version of this book, and MacLeod Andrews is an excellent reader. He captures Sutter's voice very well.

As for the book itself, I'm a bit ambivalent. It tries hard to be a contemporary "Catcher in the Rye," and I suppose it does its job. It was well-written to a point, but Sutter is a very tiring person. He's all about living in the now -- which translates into someone living with no consequences. Like Holden Caulfield, he wants to connect with the women/girls in his life, but only to a point. He blames everyone but himself. And he drinks a lot. A LOT. Way more than Holden.

After spending an entire book with Sutter, I wanted him to learn something. To really get the consequences of being such a huge loser (or in his mind, "life of the party"). But there really is none. In Holden's words, he's a big phony. He hurts people, pays no real penalty for it, and waltzes away embracing the nothingness.

If you are looking for a book with redemption, don't bother with this one. If you are a fan of Holden Caulfield types, go for it. I personally found my self more annoyed with this book than fully enjoying it. Which is how I felt about "Catcher," come to think of it.

I can see why this was nominated for the National Book Award. The main character is likeable and funny and both unique and realistic. What a terrific voice! This is a portrait of a young, kind alcoholic who helps others improve their lives while his own life goes downhill. It's an enjoyable, entertaining read, but devastating and heartbreaking too. The compelling main character and original voice will stay with me a long time.