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.
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