The Spectacular Now

By: Tim Tharp

Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews

Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

"So, my beautiful fat 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. I'm your man when it comes to cranking the wild times. 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 of 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. Isn't it my duty to show her a splendiferous time, and then let her go forth and prosper?

Y"es, 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 whiskey bottle and take a ride straight into the heart of the spectacular now."

©2008 Tim Tharp (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Lulled into believing he is happy in spite of his father's abandonment and his mother's emotional neglect, Sutter is an authentic character, and his unsteady sense of himself, as well as his relationships with his friends, will strike a chord with teen readers." ( Booklist)

Paradoxically simple and complicated

What did you love best about The Spectacular Now?

The authenticity of the characters you knew all of these people at one point in your life.

What did you like best about this story?

The story flows easily from part to part each interweaves with the other to form a cohesive tapestry.

Which character – as performed by MacLeod Andrews – was your favorite?

Sutter with out him the story is nothing,

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

can't say with out revealing too much

Any additional comments?

I am ambivalent about the ending I can see why it was that way but I had been hoping for something not more but seminal.

Enjoyed the story, but I wanted more at the end!

What did you like about this audiobook?

I liked the perspective it was written from and getting inside the head of Sutter. He was a very charming character.

What did you find wrong about the narrator's performance?

I thought the narrator was spot on! He was easy to listen to and got Sutter's attitude perfectly!

Do you have any additional comments?

I really enjoyed the story right up until the very end. I felt like it left me hanging and I wanted more of a conclusion, but in hindsight it probably was just right for the flow of the book.

great performance

great narration. much deeper story and more sympathetic protagonist than the movie. really enjoyed listening and recommend to others.

Audiobook

I listened to the audiobook and I enjoyed this book. It was nothing extraordinary, a romance turned sour, another romance found. The character feeling and recognizing the poor impact he was making on her, and convincing her to fly although the decision hurt him. Although there was no major plot twist or crazy turn of things I really enjoyed the authors story telling. For me this was a good change of pace compared to the last few books that I’ve read.

Sutter Keelley is my Bro!

'The Spectacular Now', and Sutter Keelley had me laughing my arse off so frickin' hard. I totally wanna hang with the dude, stoke up some blaze, and toss back speacial sevens with him. And bring on the sparing banter and dialogue!

Great story. Great narrator.

Good book

I really enjoyed the book. The story was good typical romantic comedy high school love story. The narrator was great, however it seemed like the production could have used some help. Every few chapter the volume would change cause me the turn up or down the volume when listening. Other wise the book was good. Would recommend it to others.

I listened to the whole story but not sure why

The beginning of the story showed promise and was an interesting premise but it was like a movie that shows everything in the trailer. I'm not sure why this story was worthy of a novel. There was no story really.