I know. I know. I'm so behind the times in reading this book. I meant to read it before the movie came out, but I must have been feeling particularly overwhelmed by my reading list at that point because I just never got around to it. I don't know what finally made me get it together but I ordered this from the library a couple weeks ago and read it right away.
After all that waiting, I have to say I wasn't all that impressed with it. Maybe it just couldn't live up to all of the hype. When you wait X number of years to read something that is supposed to be the best, most life-changing book ever, it's pretty hard to stay on that pedestal as it keeps getting taller.
I might actually go back and reread the book later because I think that might help me to understand it better. I spent the whole book wondering what was wrong with the narrator. He wasn't exactly naive, but the way in which he wrote seemed below his actual age. I had to keep reminding myself that he was actually 15/16. Then I hated myself a little for thinking that there must be something wrong with him just because he's different. And THEN I got to the end. Oh man.
But before that, it was really hard for me to place Charlie. You know how when you read a book you compare all of the characters to people you know or have known. Doubly so when you read YA, because it reminds of you all the different kinds of people that you went to high school with and the different cliques and all that. I placed Sam and Patrick easily, but I couldn't place, Charlie, and that kind of bothered me.
Although I could (obviously) relate to his desire to read and his tendency to stand apart and just observe everyone. I kind of hated the teacher a little bit when he told Charlie that thinking was an excuse to not "participate", but then the teacher turned out to be pretty cool in the end. I'm just really sick of society telling me that being introspective is somehow wrong, and when the teacher basically told Charlie this, I was all ready to get in there and defend Charlie's young, naive, fictional butt.
That being said, Charlie really is an amazing character and I wish that I could be more like him. The most striking part of the book, for me, was the end when he said he loved his Aunt Helen. Forgiving her I can understand. Loving her? After all that? I don't understand. But that's what makes Charlie special. He truly loves every one he comes into contact with and he expects absolutely nothing in return. In that sense, he is the person I am trying to be.
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