The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

This was a great book. It's one of those ones where you just love the main character. Charlie's in grade 9, a smart kid with no friends, and this book follows Charlie's life through a series of letters he writes to us, the readers.

What I think I love about Charlie is his honesty in his approach to the world. He seems somewhat disconnected, and is, as he has no friends to peer pressure him at the beginning of the story. So he views people at school from an outsiders perspective. He never sounds persecuted though (as you would have to be emotionally involved to be persecuted, and Charlie is almost estranged from his own life, being the wallflower and all) he just reports the events in his life with an earnestness that makes you want the best for him. He talks about both touchy subjects and regular 'growing up' issues normally, and approaches these with a cautious nervousness, though at the same time he's... I guess he chooses an opinion and then sticks with that conviction. He makes me smile, I want to hug him. I really got emotionally attached to him, when he experiences something good, I'm really happy for him. I think I teared up a bit when he kissed that girl.

Anyways, Charlie's problem is that he has no presence in his own life. He is a wallflower in his own life, so much so that he writes us these letters so that the reader has a larger presence vicariously in his life than he does himself. There is one scene when he's the DJ at a party, and he gauges the mood of the party so well that he accurately picks out songs to reflect that mood, which he's so good at because he's always looking outside of himself. He's very 'other' focused, too selfless. There's a potential reason for this at the end, though it is debatable as to how much of this is just his personality as opposed to a response to something else.

This is a great book with a great character.