My Rating: 2.5/5
This book had been jumping on me ever since I joined this gem of a library sometime last year, and I’ve been ignoring it so long; last week, out of some whim, I picked it up out of sheer curiosity or more because it had Emma Watson on its cover. Turns out, I was right in not picking it up, as it actually is a weird book. Written from the perspective of a teenager (15-16 year old) who is writing letters to a stranger, whom he believes to be a good guy, there is an instance when this stranger could have made out with a girl, but rather offers her a sympathetic shoulder to lean on. He writes to him about everything from his school friends, to his lost aunt, to his family, cousins and whatnot, even gets philosophical too while talking (I mean writing). Initially, it was good, but after some 50-odd pages, as his dated letters come to no end, and he keeps talking about daily life, it started to get boring. I kept on ploughing in the hope of reading the return letter from this stranger whom the kid himself doesn’t tell about himself too much, thinking he might come to know who he is actually :( How strange that is. On top of that, the kid has some medical condition too, so I was preparing myself for a setback at any point in time. I am not surprised by the way the author has shown the typical American culture by showing teenagers going through high school drama, and new friends, sex, drugs, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show, of those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as American growing up (taken from book cover). The only good part about this whole book was the ending (that I can’t tell you), and that the author himself has adapted it into a movie, which I have yet to watch, as it isn’t available on any platforms right now. Barely 200 pages, but it felt a little too long for my taste, I somehow finished it, and now I will be more careful of my selections in future. Maybe it didn’t work for me, as in our part of the world, life is totally different, and we do not have those challenges that our counterparts from the West faced a decade or two back. Now our country too is in the same rut, and our teenagers are going through these things in real life too, making this book pretty relevant for them in today’s time.
Have you read The Perks of Being a Wallflower or seen the movie? Do let know if you liked any of the versions. I will certainly give the movie a try only for Emma Watson :).
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