Book Review: The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp

Let me say this: I did not particularly enjoy The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp. I'll get to why in a minute.


I. The Characters: The characters did not warm up to me.

  A. Sutter: When we first got introduced to Sutter, I saw so much potential for a wonderful character. Honestly, I was ready to love him. But he was exactly the same all throughout the book. There was so much rooms for character development -so many places where he could've really changed. He thinks he's so good for everyone when he can barely save himself. I was waiting for him to realize that, but alas...

  B. Aimee: How naive is this girl? Honestly, throughout the whole book I kept feeling worse and worse for her. Okay, I guess standing up to her mom and Krystal was something, but I mean her character was just frustrating. Sutter turned her into an alcoholic and her plans were just ridiculous. It's sad to think how realistic that is though. How many teens, especially girls, out there are that naive? Lots. So I'll hand Tharp points for that. I just we would've seen more development from Aimee towards the better.

II. The Plot: The plot didn't connect too well. There were too many loose ends. Now, I suppose Tharp could have meant it in a realistic way. In our real lives, life doesn't really tie up very well. Sometimes there are loose ends. But still. The book was like several mini stories that led up to nothing. No main conflict. If the author intended to have Sutter's alcoholism as the main conflict, then that failed because it wasn't quite important to the overall book. It was always there, but it wasn't much of a character. It was just there in the background, and there wasn't enough negativity surrounding it. Sutter was always drinking and driving, which can spark bad ideas in the minds of young readers. And considering this book is listed as a coming of age tale... the author should have refrained from glorifying alcohol so much. I get that it was from Sutter's perspective, and that was how he saw drinking, but younger readers may not be able to see what the author was trying to say. 

Overall, there should have been more closure, and the characters... well I didn't really feel for them. Anyway, there was some realism to it especially with the family problems and the teenagers and all, so I'll give it 2.8 stars.