this is the book that started it all for me. quite literally. it got me into reading, and i will acknowledge i am incredibly biased about this piece of fiction. i think i was twelve or thirteen when i first read this book, and charlie was such a great character to me. having related to him on a personal level, it was the first time i truly saw myself and what i went through in fiction. i know that this book is nothing crazy, in fact, the writing is quite simple, but it didn't need to be complex. i love the way this book is formatted in letters, and it's become a style of narrative that i'm fond of.