The Spectacular Now
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST!
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.
Now a major motion picture -- one of the most buzzed-about films at Sundance, starring Shailene Woodley (star of The Fault in our Stars and Divergent) and Miles Teller (star of Whiplash).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Unlike most high school seniors, Sutter Keely the narrator of this smart, superbly written novel is not concerned with the future. He's the life of the party, and he's interested in the "Spectacular Now." In stream of consciousness style prose, Sutter describes his lurching from one good time to the next: he carries whiskey in a flask, and once it's mixed into his 7Up, anything is possible. He will jump into the pool fully clothed, climb up a tree and onto his ex-girlfriend's roof or cruise around all hours of the night. Without ever deviating from the voice of the egocentric Sutter, Tharp (Knights of the Hill Country) fully develops all of the ancillary characters, such as socially awkward Aimee, the new girlfriend who tries to plan a future with this quintessential live-for-the-moment guy. Readers will be simultaneously charmed and infuriated by Sutter as his voice holds them in thrall to his all-powerful Now. Ages 14 up.
Customer Reviews
Great book, painful ending
I bought this book after seeing the trailer for the film. I finished the book the same day I bought it. It is a very fast read.
I was as emotionally invested in these characters as any book characters that I can remember. The book is told in a first person perpective from the main character, Sutter. His lovable but destructive character makes you hate him for his stupid decisions but love him more because of his positive view of the world and everyone in it
Aimee enters the story and you think she's going to be the one to shape him up. Their relationship is not like most campy teenage fictional romances. It is deeper and darker and that is why the reader is so sucked in I think. Because at least for me I thought they could both help each other.
The ending left me dissatisfied and somewhat angry. It is a bit of an open ended conclusion to the book. Aimee and Sutter's plans are not set in stone and one could look at it optimistically that there is a chance at a happy ending for both. But in my opinion it was a much more negative ending than positive and after getting so emotionally involved with both Aimee and Sutter it was hard to deal with the way it ended.
Overall it was a very good book. I'm interested to see if the film will have a slightly more upbeat ending.
I love it
Oh yeah
A story that will stick with you.
I loved this book. Sutter is the type of kid you instantly love even as damaged as he is. You'll want to put him in a little bubble and protect him from the world. The ending made sense but left me wanting to know more. I love how this author rights in first person. The internal dialog is witty and quick.