All Good Things Must Come to an End

Dear Friend,
During the past few months I have been reading "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky for my English class. When my teacher told us what the book was about I was a bit skeptical. It didn't seem like the type of book I would enjoy. However, once I started I was completely hooked. After a few days of reading I had to force myself to stop because I didn't want to get too far ahead. I guess the reason that I love this book so much is the connection I am able to make with Charlie, the main character. I have never been able to relate to a character in a book in this way before. As you know I am a listener rather than a talker. I barely said anything in my English class, for example, but you could point out one of my classmates and I would be able to tell you a lot about them. I can see so much of myself in Charlie's personality. My only regret is that I can't give this book to my younger brothers so that they can read it. There is so much that they could learn from it, but there are some things in the book that aren't appropriate for them. I know you don't read a lot of books but I definitely think you should give this one a try.

In one of my favorite scenes Patrick shows Charlie a poem that was rumored to be a suicide note. This scene didn't make me feel happy but I did feel something and the funny thing is that I can't tell you what it was. Of course I felt sad but it was more than that. It made me want to help the person who wrote the poem. I wanted to change the ending to his or her life but I couldn't. I'm not sure if there was a scene that I didn't like. In one scene Charlie is told to kiss the prettiest girl in the room. Instead of kissing his girlfriend he kisses the girl who he is really in love with. This scene made me feel uncomfortable but I didn't dislike it.

There were two quotes that I thought were really special. The first quote was one that a lot of people also thought was good. "And in that moment, I swear we were infinite." Charlie thinks this when he is in a car with his friends, Sam and Patrick, and they are listening to music. I like this quote because it struck me as an odd sentence when I first read it. It made me think about what it means to be infinite. I would tell you what it means to me if it was possible to put it into words. This second quote is my favorite. "I walked over to the hill where we used to go and sled. There were a lot of little kids there. I watched them flying. Doing jumps and having races. And I thought that all those little kids are going to grow up someday. And all of those little kids are going to do the things that we do. And they will all kiss someone someday. But for now, sledding is enough. I think it would be great if sledding were always enough, but it isn't." Wouldn't it be great if sledding was enough? I think it would be wonderful if life were as simple as a trip down a snowy hillside on a sled, or an afternoon at the park, or watching the sun set. If only it were enough to simply live and enjoy life.

I won't spoil the ending for you because I want you to find out for yourself. All you need to know is that their is a surprising twist. I will say the twist isn't positive. I was actually relieved after I finished reading it because I thought something worse was going to happen to Charlie. I also liked how things turned out between Charlie and Sam. You'll know what I mean after you read the book. I don't want to say much more about it other that the ending was one of the best parts of the book.

Hope to see you soon,
Sean