Spectacular Things

Throughout Spectacular Things, Liz and her eldest daughter, Mia, frequently make sacrifices to support their family. For example, when Mia’s younger sister, Cricket, joins a time-consuming soccer team as a teenager, Liz takes on a second job to help pay for the associated costs. At the same time, Mia picks up the slack around the house while Liz is working. Similarly, after Liz dies suddenly in a car accident, Mia drops out…

For most of Cricket’s life, she has a single dream: to become a professional soccer player and play on the U.S. National Team. She pursues that goal with a relentless and single-minded ambition. Beginning when she is a child, she trains for hours each day and makes soccer the center of her life. Along the way, Cricket also experiences several setbacks while trying to achieve that goal. Her first season as a professional soccer…

Much of the novel revolves around the benefits and costs of competition. The novel explores the nature of competition through Cricket’s relationship with Sloane. While Cricket and Sloane are close friends, they are also fiercely competitive with one another, primarily because both want the sole spot of starting goalkeeper on the U.S. Women’s National Team. The novel suggests that while that competition often pushes Sloane and Cricket in a way that meaningfully advances their skills…

Throughout the novel, Liz, Mia, and Cricket face several significant hardships that, at first, seem insurmountable. For example, after Liz’s parents effectively disown her when she gives birth to Mia, Liz moves to a small town in Maine with little money and without knowing anyone there. Shortly after moving, though, Liz meets a dentist, Dr. Green, who offers Liz a job, thus providing Liz with the lifeline she needs to provide for…