The Spectacular Now »

Tim Tharp lives in Oklahoma, where he teaches at Rose State College. He is also the author of the YA novel Knights of the Hill Country, an ALA–YALSA Best Book for Young Adults. He lives in Midwest City, Oklahoma.

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.

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. (Nov.)

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