I hope that someday, somebody wants to hold you for twenty minutes straight, and that’s all they do. They don’t pull away. They don’t look at your face. They don’t try to kiss you. All they do is wrap you up in their arms, without an ounce of selfishness in it.
guilty - i was one of those that watched the movie before reading the book. i loved the movie and indeed remember this book being popular at high school. why, oh why, didn't i read it back then! this coming of age book is powerful. so powerful that it is relevant in my current state of relearning knowledge, personality, self.
charlie. a quite one. one who has encountered numerous human afflictions. he had lost love and connection. he had his brain in overdrive. he read in an attempt to connect. mirror? “It's strange because sometimes, I read a book, and I think I am the people in the book.”
Charlie's afflictions are penned so carefully that although horrific, they are stunningly beautiful. beautiful in the sense that grief, loss and despair are described accurately and without restraint. i struggle to describe what i've gone through and i've learnt that no one can ever accurately describe another's events. Chbosky goes close though, so ever-appreciatingly close.
the secondary stories are also impactful and able to be connected to. an accurate portrayal of not only teenagers, but all human groups in general. everyone has a Mary Elizabeth who partakes in monologue as opposed to dialogue, a Patrick who displays humour regardless of context, a Sam who is ever adoring, and a Bill who shows us meaning to life.
***
overall: large life events with even larger emotions are meticulously penned with grace and heart. i thank Stephen Chbosky for having the guts and ability to put this out there for everyone to connect with. that's what makes this book beautiful - everyone is able to connect.
4 out of 5 bookworms.
“we accept the love we think we deserve.”
“So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be.”
“I would die for you. But I won't live for you.”
“There's nothing like deep breaths after laughing that hard. Nothing in the world like a sore stomach for the right reasons.”
“I think that if I ever have kids, and they are upset, I won't tell them that people are starving in China or anything like that because it wouldn't change the fact that they were upset. And even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn't really change the fact that you have what you have.”
“I am very interested and fascinated how everyone loves each other, but no one really likes each other.”
“It's just that I don't want to be somebody's crush. If somebody likes me, I want them to like the real me, not what they think I am. And I don't want them to carry it around inside. I want them to show me, so I can feel it too.”
“I don’t know if you’ve ever felt like that. That you wanted to sleep for a thousand years. Or just not exist. Or just not be aware that you do exist. Or something like that. I think wanting that is very morbid, but I want it when I get like this. That’s why I’m trying not to think. I just want it all to stop spinning.”
“She wasn't bitter. She was sad, though. But it was a hopeful kind of sad. The kind of sad that just takes time. ”
“We didn't talk about anything heavy or light. We were just there together. And that was enough”
“please believe that things are good with me, and even when they're not, they will be soon enough. And i will always believe the same about you.”
“It was the kind of kiss that made me know that I was never so happy in my whole life.”
“He's a wallflower. You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand.”
“Just tell me how to be different in a way that makes sense.”
“It's much easier to not know things sometimes. Things change and friends leave. And life doesn't stop for anybody. I wanted to laugh. Or maybe get mad. Or maybe shrug at how strange everybody was, especially me. I think the idea is that every person has to live for his or her own life and than make the choice to share it with other people. You can't just sit their and put everybody's lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love. You just can't. You have to do things. I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm going to be who I really am. And I'm going to figure out what that is. And we could all sit around and wonder and feel bad about each other and blame a lot of people for what they did or didn't do or what they didn't know. I don't know. I guess there could always be someone to blame. It's just different."
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