I have just finished rereading Perks for a school project and I have fallen in love with it all over again. The first time I read it was just before getting into high school. I have been meaning to reread it for a bit now and I’m so glad that I have finally gotten around to it. It’s coming of age tale is filled with smiles and laughs and cries.
I think that this book explains teenage in the best way possible. I relate to this quote in particular, ” I am both happy and sad and I’m still trying to figure out how that could be.” It’s true we are happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time. This book is rather simply written. This emphasises that we don’t need fancy words to convey deep emotions. And this novel is a rollercoaster of emotions.
This story revolves around a group of oddballs. The protagonist, Charlie is probably the weirdest of the lot. They have no intentions or desires of fitting in. I think that it is important to know that its okay to be different in a generation that is so consumed with fitting in. Teenagers are often trying to stand apart yet fit into groups. We want to find ourselves yet we more concerned with what others think of us and not of what we think of ourselves.
I also have this weird theory about Aunt Helen, I don’t think that she got into an accident I think that she killed herself. Her life was terrible enough for her to do it and maybe she couldn’t live with the guilt that she had become the very thing that she hated. And her dying was Charlie’s present.
Anyways I think that rereading this book has really cleared up some stuff for me and has given me further insight into the beautifully written story and its complex characters. I think that every teenager should read this book because it is so relatable and it describes teenage in the best way and most apt way possible. It’s like a spilled pallet of paint. I also felt like Charlie was actually my friend, and I think that that’s got a lot to do with the way the book has been written.
And I like Charlie maybe want to write when I grow up and we both don’t know what we would write. I really love this quote “Standing on the fringes of life… offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.” And I think that both Charlie and I need to get on the dance floor and start dancing.
Unironically Excited 