What makes this novel so intimate and easily relatable is that it is entirely written in a letter or diary form. "Dear friend" is always the start of Charlie's thoughts before he tells the mystery writer about his day. Though we are never revealed to whom he is writing to, he is able to be honest and open with what he experiences and thinks about what is happening around him. It really could be a diary because with what is expressed is so unbiased and open, it is almost as though Charlie is expressing his thoughts to himself.
Charlie is entering high school, a time where kids are beginning to form into what they might be for the rest of their lives. Charlie is seemingly above average intellectually and he tends to struggle with making friends but his English teacher immediately recognizes his potential and takes on the role of being a mentor to him. He assigns books to Charlie that are not on the lesson plan and Charlie writes books reports on them. His teacher exposes him to some of the greatest works in history and he happily devours each one. Meanwhile, Charlie remains as a loner and tries to keep under the radar. That is until he meets Sam and Patrick.
I absolutely adore Sam and Patrick... They marched to the beat of their own drum, they were misanthropic, they had some deep seeded issues that have led them off the path of what a normal high school teen should be on. They were the wallflowers who were biding their time until college where their interests would become more widely accepted. They introduce Charlie to new people who enjoy The Rocky Horror Picture Show and listen to bands like The Smiths and Mary Elizabeth, Charlie's first girlfriend (a Punk rock Buddhist with anger issues). Although Patrick and Sam are offbeat they have found their niche. Patrick is a homosexual who is in love with the closeted football player and Sam who was forced to grow up too fast and grew up believing that she was less of a person than what she was. "We accept the love we think we deserve." Chbosky created some of the most real characters I have ever read, these people were my best friends in high school.
Charlie does face a hard time and is forced to relive some childhood traumas that he surpressed for quite some time. However, once he does he seems to finally let go of the guarded version of himself and chooses to "participate" in life. While much of the novel is truly heartbreaking, I believe this ended in a positive note. Chbosky also helped with the movie adaptation of the novel. Not too shabby and stays relatively close to the novel.
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