I just really loved reading this book.
Charlie first appears to be a quiet, strange and unpopular boy. He is left friendless as a result of his best friend committing suicide a year earlier. One day he befriends two seniors called Sam and Patrick and they, along with their friends, introduce him to a whole new life. They expose him to new music, true friendship, drugs, sex and more complicated relationships.
This story is told through a series of letters that Charlie writes to an anonymous person. This helps us really see his way of thinking. This is a coming of age story, however it is unlike any I've ever read. I believe this is because Charlie seems so real, so likable and I think he is also really sweet.
It took me less than two hours to read. Despite the fact that it was a fairly short book, I have remembered it long since the first time I read it.
10/10 - It's everything I want in a book.
Interesting title! I quite like the epistolary novel myself (that's a fancy word for a novel constructed using letters!) There is a long tradition of this: did you know that the book regarded by some experts as the first "novel" was in fact an epistolary narrative (it is called Pamela, in case you were want to look it up!) Maybe this kind of story works well because it positions the reader to "receive" the letters, almost as if he/she is being spoken to directly?
ReplyDeleteCool, I think it does make the reader feel like they are being spoken to directly. I'll look it up, thanks.
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