john amato

so, i read the perks of being a wallflower this week. twice. twice because charlie reads every book twice. twice because it’s the best book of my life. now and forever.

if you’ve read it, you know what i mean. if you haven’t read it, you must.

this book is so special for many reasons. there are two that stand out to me. first, everyone can relate to the main character, charlie, in some way. second, everyone loves feeling like they are the one that charlie is writing the letters to, pouring his heart out to, and placing complete trust in. there is a ‘communion’ between the two and chbosky makes you feel a part of it.

i noticed one interesting bit while reading perks this last week. sometimes chbosky chooses to capitalize ‘Aunt’ Helen and sometimes he doesn’t – ‘aunt Helen’. i’m not sure why he does this. my best guess, which i’m pretty sure is not consistent throughout, is that he uses a lowercase ‘a’ when talking about bad times. when the memories of her are fond, a capital ‘A’ is used. i would like to know the real meaning behind this.