The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp

The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Summary:  

So, my girlfriend, Cassidy, is threatening to kick me to the curb again, my best friend suddenly wants to put the brakes on our lives of fabulous fun, my mom and big sister are plotting a future in which I turn into an atomic vampire, and my dad, well, my dad is a big fat question mark that I’m not sure I want the answer to.


Some people would let a senior year like this get them down. Not me. I’m Sutter Keely, master of the party. But don’t mistake a midnight philosopher like me for nothing more than a shallow party boy. Just ask Aimee, the new girl in my life. She saw the depth in the Sutterman from that first moment when she found me passed out on the front lawn. Okay, so she’s a social disaster, but that’s where I come in.

Yes, life is weird, but I embrace the weird. Let everyone else go marching off into their great shining futures if they want. Me, I’ve always been more than content to tip my whisky bottle and take a ride straight into the heart of the spectacular now.
Lesson learned: Just because there is a movie out there about a book does not mean the book is spectacular.

I cannot say I didn't enjoy this book, because I found myself laughing down right out loud while listening to this audiobook at work. Sutter's personality was outrageously great! I think we all had a Sutter character in our midst during our young teen years, the one who did all the crazy fun and outlandish stunts, making life just more entertaining.

But like most things in life, you have to face growing up. This is something Sutter doesn't want to do. So instead he find someone he is going to "help" come out of their shell and enjoy life. The problem with that is where do you draw the line. Do you pretend to like someone just to help them? Do you drag them down your miserable road thinking it is help?

I was torn between liking this and being annoyed by it. This takes place in a small town in Oklahoma with what sounds like nothing else to do but drink and party. Even though I loved Sutter's carefree way of thinking and his heart was really in the right place most of the time, I just couldn't get into this idea of leading on a girl by lying to her so he could give her experience and strength. It really rubbed me wrong. So it was an ethical question for me.

Lets just say I hated the ending! Without giving away much, I was so disappointed by the ending, it is the only reason I gave it 3 stars instead of 4. The ending is what leaves you with the taste in your mouth about the whole book. This one left me sour! I haven't seen the movie yet, not sure if I will because of its rating of R, but lets hope they changed it enough in the end to make people feel like it ended SOMEWHERE instead of dropping off into an abyss!

Here is the movie trailer... Enjoy!




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