one of the first things i learned in therapy is that being young means you don’t yet have the tools to deal with the things that happen to you. those tools are being developed, and every experience informs who you are.

charlie is a child, and he is learning how to live.

the fact that this book is in epistolary format is so special, and intimate, and soft, and true. charlie’s growth, his happiness, his sadness, his panic and anger and fear— they are all told to the reader in a way that doesn’t tell the whole story. we do not read his thoughts, but rather his reconciliation with his thoughts, and that is something so special and unique. many normal first-person perspectives don’t address the issue of what it means to have bad thoughts, and how to address them, but that is all we see charlie do in Perks! and it is something so beautiful and tender and relatable. when you want to kiss a girl, but you know it might hurt her if you did… when you love someone who hurt you, but know there are reasons you shouldnt… these thought processes are so human yet so rare to see represented well in a novel. charlie is learning how to deal with these thoughts, and it is messy and natural.

chbosky’s writing (or should i say charlie’s writing?) is so simple yet poignant and manages to convey feelings and hurt almost matter-of-factly. yet charlie displays an empathy that almost radiates from the pages, to the point of making me reconsider how i view others in my life. i love this novel.

Perks tells us one thing: we are all human. and as humans, we should love each other as much as we can.