In this moment we were infinite

I just got through Perks of Being a Wallflower. An incredibly powerful moving story from the voice of a freshman outsider named Charlie. I'm not sure if this book resonated so much because I can relate to Charlie on so many levels and because I am younger, but even if you are older, especially if you have kids, I urge you to read this book because it eloquently puts into words the true and deep emotions of teenagers that often get discounted and lumped in mass to the term "adolescence".

Charlie is the youngest of three children heading into high school with no friends and a sensibility that doesn't put him in line to make many. He is a brilliant, interesting boy with a flare for the bizarre and fringe. He thinks differently, he feels everything to the core of his being and has the sweetest most pure soul.

He meets two people who will become the cornerstone and teaching tools for his young life, brother and sister Patrick and Sam. They welcome him in with open arms, understand his unique world disposition and help him to jump into life experiences that would otherwise have alluded him. Through the course of Charlie's correspondence with an anonymous reader who he his writing letters about his life to, we learn all about his first year of high school and get to see the his evolution emotionally and personally. Charlie has seen many dark things and we come to learn has experienced them as well which plays a huge part in shaping the person he is today.

I think this book is really important for adults to read because often teenagers and young peoples emotions get discounted and ignored as over reactions or irrational. That's just it though, emotions are never rationale and life experience or age doesn't make them any more credible. Young people feel things deeply and truly. It doesn't matter that as an adult you know they will pass, for the kid now it is their sole reality and should be given value. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to express yourself and getting written off as ridiculous. Charlie has the definition of an old soul, he has had to deal with things far too great for his years and frankly has done just fine with them. He has issues, he has eccentricities and trouble adapting to environments but he is doing the best he can with what he knows and the tools he has.

I have not seen this movie but as easy to read as the book was I suggest you read it. Young kids will like the familiarity they find in Charlie, Sam and Patrick and adults will stand to learn a thing or to. This is one well written, deeply thought out book and will leave something with you long after you've finished.