First things first, this book may not be appropriate for everyone. It was barely appropriate for me, so read at your own caution.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is quiet, funny, honest, and memorable. Charlie is starting high school and he's facing not only the new school year, but the recent death of his best friend. These events and his bouts with depression lead him to write letters to an anonymous friend. Each letter digs deeper and deeper into Charlie's rapid thoughts as he is confronted by life and how he fits into it. Here's a snippet of the book:
"I walk around the school hallways and look at the people. I look at the teachers and wonder why they're here. If they like their jobs. Or us. And I wonder how smart they were when they were fifteen. Not in a mean way. In a curious way. It's like looking at all the students and wondering who's had their heart broken that day, and how they are able to cope with having three quizzes and a book report due on top of that. Or wondering who did the heart breaking. And wondering why."
I do have another warning, when you read this you will inevitably feel like you need to help Charlie, like you have to help him, and when you realize you can't, well...just make sure you're near tissues.
I love books like this. I want to write books like this. It reminded me of Little Bee and Speak and Extremely Loud and Incredible Close. Each of these books show an authors dedication to creating individual characters that have something to say and know how to say it. The characters are original, witty, genuine...everything a character should be. I will probably write a post on each of these books because they each worked their way inside of me and few books can do that.
If you read it, let me know.
Rating: 4/5
-Lou
No comments:
Post a Comment