Afterwords

For this review and more, pop by my blog - Drugs Called BooksI'm going to confess something; the only reason I really picked up this book, was because of Emma Watson. Now you're probably all going like... Wah?Truth is, I saw the trailer of the movie, and as an Emma Watson lover immediately wanted to see it. But I can't watch a book-based movie without reading the book first.Before the movie, though, this book never really caught my attention. Mostly because I could never quite figure out what the book was about from the summary. Anyway, the thing is...I both hated and loved this book, which is confusing. Sometimes that's not a bad thing, but I can't say if it was a good thing in this case. But regardless, this book, who so many have loved, did not blow my mind. It was not a reading experience that I will remember forever, and at least half of the book I felt... awkward, to be reading what I did. Now before you judge me on not liking it as much, remember that we are all allowed to have different opinions, and I won't leave it just at that; I will explain. First thing, I couldn't connect to Charlie. His "voice" was foreign to me, and the 'experiences' he went through completely unrelated to me. He sounded to me like a ten year old in his writing, not a 15-year-old, but had some thoughts only 80 years old think. But between deep thought to the other, it felt to me like I was reading of a ten-year-old smoking, doing drugs, drinking, and having sex-related experiences, which just felt... wrong, to me. I adored his deep thoughts, though, despite the fact each time they gave me a pause. You had to stop and wonder where did they just come from. But they were meaningful. Love stuff like that.Now, aside for his voice and experiences, or more like together with them, the way Charlie reacted to everything that happened around him... I couldn't relate at all. I felt like he probably has some form of autism or something like it (and if I got that wrong, that'd be embarrassing), but I've read other books with autistic heroes, such as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and I could relate and understand and love the main character. Not so much here. And if that's not enough, I didn't really like his relationship with the people around him, even though I loved Patrick. Sam was... okay.Add to that the fact I simply disliked the romance. Or lack of it. Or the conclusion of it. I don't know, I guess I never felt like this book had a plot. It was just... all over the place, and the ending and final revelation... It came out of nowhere! It was just suddenly *poof*, and it's there. I didn't like that. I would've liked to have a more definite plot.Honestly, I don't think I quite got the point of the book, or the characters in it. Maybe I just missed something, and that's okay. It happens sometimes. I didn't connect. This wasn't THE book for me. It's not a favorite of mine. It was fine. I enjoyed it, once I decided to try and ignore the un-comfortableness I felt whenever Charlie smoked or drank or whatever. But that's about it.For this review and more, pop by my blog - Drugs Called Books