5 Reasons I Loved The Perks of Being a Wallflower (in the end)

The silverlinings of standing on the edge of life. I've always been curious about this book, especially when the movie was released. Since a few friends told me the novel is way better, I decided to read it before watching the film. Actually, I still have to watch it, but I do love Emma Watson. Despite my Hermione obsession, I wanted a book with no movie poster as a cover, which I usually don't like, exception made for Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox as the movie is by Wes Anderson and I adore him. However, I bought Stephen Chbosky's book in English, a British edition with a light blue paperboard cover.

I have to admit I kept my expectations very low because I thought I was about to read another sociopath teen novel about how everything can be rough and how love can save your life. And when I started reading, it was just like that. This guy, Charlie, well, he is kind of sociopath and awkward and strange and definitely an overthinker. The first half of the book gets you depressed to the core. You start getting annoyed by the incredible amount of different thoughts a 16 year-old guy can have about people and photographs of people and relationships with people. All you want to do is scream at this guy to get the girl and shut the fuck up because you're getting sad and you don't even know why. But if you were, you'd be missing the point. So no, I wouldn't say this is a Bathroom Book. It's more of a Train Book or an Airport Waiting Room Book.
The airport at night was just where I began to understand The Perks of Being a Wallflower and now I'm grateful to the people sleeping there and the silent people looking at those big screens and even to the people picking their noses thinking nobody saw them. Now I'm writing like Charlie does in his letters and I'm not sure this is good. So I'll cut it short. Here's the list of the 5 reasons I loved the book, at the very end.

1. Charlie is a positive guy. I'm truly sorry I misunderstood him in the first place. He always sees the best in others, even in people who don't deserve that. I'm kind of like that myself more than I used to be as a teen. I'm not saying people are all good and nobody will ever hurt you. I know it isn't an easy thing to do, but I try to understand others' behaviour and empathize with their reasons, even if they could be wrong. Understanding someone who's acting right is definitely easy, as easy as jabbing at them when they do very stupid things and I'm quite sure easy doesn't always mean fair.

2. Charlie loves his parents and does his best to let them know. I'm not a family person and I show very little affection to my parents. I guess this is normal when you argue all the time about silly and big things and there's a huge lack of communication. Anyway, I should be more understanding to my parents just as I try to be to people I don't know, as I said in the above point. I find myself thinking about death every now and then. I know this is pretty stupid now, but one day they'll be gone and when I think of that I feel really bad for all the times I made them feel sorry or sad or angry, especially for those times I could've tried to be nicer and I didn't.

3. Charlie loves his siblings. I'm an only child and I used to love it when I was a 4 year-old little bitch and I could have all the toys for me without sharing any, but now I don't. Plus, my family is quite small and we don't see each other very often, not even on national holidays. I'm scared of loneliness most of all yet I know one day I'll be my own family and I have to learn how to get by alone. That's something you will never worry about when you have a brother or a sister. Some time ago, a close friend of mine told me if she ever happens to be in trouble, she'll end up at her brother's. She said it like it was the most natural thing in the world and I felt a bit sorry for myself because I'll never know what this really means. I guess friends are kind of a family to us, poor only children, so I do hope one or two of them will save a spare room above the garage for me, like Chandler and Monica did with Joey in Friends. You know, just in case.

4. Charlie is special, but he doesn't know he is until Bill tells him. The novel is all about the everyone-is-special-in-their-own-way thing. I guess this could be true, except for some people who could be erased from the world and make it a better place to live in. Well, I don't hate anyone that much, actually, because hate takes too much energy and I don't have such a big supply. Back to the point, I'm pretty sure nobody knows they're special until someone says they are and makes them aware of that. Being special is something you cannot be by yourself. You need another person to let you know you're better than the ordinary crap surrounding you and when it happens, it is just great.

5. Charlie lives in the 90s. The novel is set between 1991 and 1992. Chbosky's 90s smell like sweaty band tees, cheap alcohol and burnt tyres. I have to say I loved reading of those times when people made mixed tapes, only used home phones and desperation was handwritten. I tried to picture what being a wallflower would be in the 2010s and the scenario is kind of pathetic rather than poetic. Charlie would have spent his days on Sam's Facebook and Instagram. There wouldn't have been any of those dramatic waits for a phone call from one of his friends because he could have used Whatsapp straight away. I bet he wouldn't have read all those books Bill gave him because he would have been too busy tweeting his feelings out and it's a shame, because that way Bill wouldn't have found out Charlie was special and neither would have Charlie himself. So, best time setting, cultural and musical references ever.

My HIMYM Finale

I need to write something about it.

I waited for hours for the finale of all finales to start yesterday. As I don't live in the US, it wasn't that easy to watch it with the rest of the world. I had an eye on Jeopardy! in the meantime and thanks to a countless number of ads I know exactly who's the democratic candidate you should vote for in Pennsylvania, go Tom!

It's 2 am finally and HIMYM starts, for the very last time.

The video quality is shitty and it lags every 2 minutes, which causes me something very close to a nervous breakdown. I am well aware I'm in the middle of the night, so I keep calm and try to focus on what Carter & Craig had prepared for all the fans.

I even miss a bit of the first part, but then it is quite okay. And it is just beautiful.

I've read a lot of negative comments today on the Internet and I have to say I don't know exactly how I feel about the finale. The only thing I know is that it didn't disappoint me. And here the spoiler part comes, so if you haven't seen the finale yet, you may not want to read this. Really, you don't want to. Go make (or smoke?) a sandwich someplace else.

I've hoped for Robin and Ted to be together since the show started. I had temperature, I was in high school and I didn't know anything about life (more or less like today), yet I did want them to be a couple. Truth is I felt immediately really close to Robin in the way she is and in the way she commits to achieving her job dream. Casually, her final goal is mine too, as I've always wanted to become a journalist and travel the world. Ted is way more concerned about settling down and starting a family. All the blue French horns in the world are of little use for two people who want such different things in life and they eventually break up.

And that's when I started hoping.

You may think I'm a bit of a dreamer (read idiot) to think that the girl who's introduced to us like "Aunt Robin" would become the other half of the Mosby universe in the end, but I wanted to believe, like Marshall did with Nessie.

So, yes, I liked the finale. I even cried a bit while watching. I was glad, despite the fact it was a bit unfair and melancholic. So is life, but that doesn't mean sadness should prevent you to enjoy the ride. I don't agree with some of the disappointed fans who think that the show should have ended at season 2, if the writers wanted Robin and Ted to be together. The timing between them wasn't just right. Robin is the one who said "Timing's a bitch" and it really was that way for her and Ted.

I love the way they stay friends anyway, yet we all know it is way more than that. Especially for Ted. He doesn't hide he is around the corner waiting for her to be ready, yet I think their friendship is real. He's always been there for her, like no one else has. And then, when she has doubts on her wedding day with Barney and confesses Ted maybe she should be with him, Ted pushes her away. She deserves that a bit, honestly. I'd say it is kind of Aldrin justice.

And she does deserve to see Ted's happiness with The Mother. At this point, he is ready for someone else, for a new perspective in life. Ted isn't the same person anymore, but neither is Robin. While he's enjoying his happy years with Tracy (now we finally know her name!), Robin and Barney split up and she gets away from the gang, leaving a brokenhearted Lily and becoming a very famous reporter. She and Ted both have experiences meanwhile, they both find new places, new people, they both just live, like the rest of the group. And I wouldn't call that "pointless".

I'm a HIMYM lover, but I'm not blind. The show quality got worse in the last two seasons. I guess Carter Bays and Craig Thomas had some troubles in carrying on a TV show they wrote taking inspiration from their own lives while they were just playing for The Solids and not knowing it would get that successful. The show is undeniably long, but it is funny all the time. Focusing on Barney and Robin's wedding for a whole season was maybe a tricky choice for such a brief relationship. I guess it was just another way of throwing us off about the finale and it did work out.

I didn't like the fact we've seen so little of The Mother during season 9. We should probably have seen more of her with Ted. The Mother is the most perfect girl on this Earth to become Mrs Mosby. Tracy and Ted have so many things in common and I believe the love they share is damn real. I don't think Ted doesn't love her because of Robin. I think he loves The Girl With The Yellow Umbrella just for that.

After all the heartbreaks in his life he needs someone to be the other half of a perfect pair. That's why I think her death is the only possible way for such a big love to end. And that's why I think getting divorced is the right way for Barney and Robin to break up, instead. They were in love yet not so compatible like Ted and The Mother and they realize that before you can say "Legendary".

There are different kinds of love in life, let's face that. None of them is unique, none of them lasts forever. Robin and Ted's isn't perfect and easy. It's just a kind of love which takes time to get right. It's mature and I guess it'll be long-lasting because of all the years it took to become real. In 2030, when Ted begins to tell the whole story to his kids, he and Robin are 50 something (and still no wrinkles, wow!). It's high time for these two old guys to enjoy their right timing for once. They have my blessing.