 |
Author: Tim Tharp
Publisher: Ember
Date Published: July 9th, 2013
Genre: Conteporary
Pages: 304 (Paperback)
Age Range: 16+
Summary:
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.
Review:
There are very few books that I read where I need a few more chapters, or at least an epilogue if not another entire book. The Spectacular Now is one of those rare little gems. It was very real, raw, and poignant- a painful read about a subject that really shouldn't be so painful to read about. So few books make me cry, and shake my fist, and pull out my hair, and cry some more, but the Spectacular Now made me do all of those things.
First, the characters were incredibly flawed. Sutter Keely really is a good guy at heart, but he is a terrible alcoholic. I have never read a book that had so much alcohol in it before. Now the thing is, in YA, alcohol is usually presented at parties and in kegs. In the book, the alcohol was a very main element. Usually alcohol is portrayed in a negative light, girls get drunk and go off with strange men, boys trash the house and say things they shouldn't have. Through this all, alcohol is portrayed as a bad thing while it truly isn't. The people abusing the alcohol are the real problems,and this book kind of gently delves to the root of that.
Amy is introduced as Sutter's opposite, and she never really stops being his opposite. He's a fun-loving guy, knows everyone, wants to a lot of people, etc. But Amy is much more reserved and quiet. It was fun to watch Sutter pry apart Amy's shell and watch her really come into her own. She was a girl that everyone can relate to,and I liked her character a lot.
Now, as the book progresses, Amy falls into a downward spiral. She spins from being this straight-laced, uptight girl, to letting loose way too much. I really liked Sutter's character, but his character pulled Amy to be more like him in his attempt to help her. Then, he realized what he had done, and that miserable excuse for an ending came by.
This book actually made me hurt in many ways. I hurt for Amy and Sutter's positions at first, and then I really did feel for Sutter. When he lost his job, my heart broke into a million pieces, and the ending made me cry a little bit. I loved the openness of the ending, and the overall feel because it just fit with the book, but I didn't like how everything wasn't perfectly resolved.
I really wanted this book to end with a happily ever after (that doesn't happen too often), but instead I was left with an ending that made my heart hurt, and my eyes leak. I would definitely read this again, and since the movie has Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller, I will be watching it very soon!
Amy is introduced as Sutter's opposite, and she never really stops being his opposite. He's a fun-loving guy, knows everyone, wants to a lot of people, etc. But Amy is much more reserved and quiet. It was fun to watch Sutter pry apart Amy's shell and watch her really come into her own. She was a girl that everyone can relate to,and I liked her character a lot.
Now, as the book progresses, Amy falls into a downward spiral. She spins from being this straight-laced, uptight girl, to letting loose way too much. I really liked Sutter's character, but his character pulled Amy to be more like him in his attempt to help her. Then, he realized what he had done, and that miserable excuse for an ending came by.
This book actually made me hurt in many ways. I hurt for Amy and Sutter's positions at first, and then I really did feel for Sutter. When he lost his job, my heart broke into a million pieces, and the ending made me cry a little bit. I loved the openness of the ending, and the overall feel because it just fit with the book, but I didn't like how everything wasn't perfectly resolved.
I really wanted this book to end with a happily ever after (that doesn't happen too often), but instead I was left with an ending that made my heart hurt, and my eyes leak. I would definitely read this again, and since the movie has Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller, I will be watching it very soon!
No comments:
Post a Comment