Very useful and interesting little book! Has a ton of beautifully written prayers that the priest says during the Mass, but also ones that you can sayVery useful and interesting little book! Has a ton of beautifully written prayers that the priest says during the Mass, but also ones that you can say yourself. If you’re just trying out the Latin Mass (as I am) this is a great resource. If you’re someone who exclusively attends the TLM, I would get a more in depth missal because this one only has the fixed sayings and not the Bible readings that change day to day....more
Never thought such a simple children's fable would be so heartbreaking, philosophical, and have such beautifI need some time to process that ending...
Never thought such a simple children's fable would be so heartbreaking, philosophical, and have such beautiful language. I know I'm late to the game with this book, but I'm honestly glad I read it as a teen. It's much more powerful this way.
May we all remember the Little Prince when we look up at the stars at night.
When I closed this book after reading it, I felt a lot of things.
And that, to me, is the highest remark I can As of December 2021, I am 15 years old.
When I closed this book after reading it, I felt a lot of things.
And that, to me, is the highest remark I can say about a book. That it made you feel. Deeply. That it stayed with you.
The thing that made this book so special to me was the main character, 15-year-old Charlie.
Oh, Charlie. What to say about this kid? Maybe that I related so much to his story. I related to being 15-turning-16 in 9th grade. I related to feeling everything so deeply, thinking so deeply, both a blessing and a curse. I related to feeling like an outsider. I related to having anxiety and feeling that my thoughts were racing through my head. I related to loving books and wanting to be a writer having a teacher who I talked about books with, also in 9th grade. I related to being young for my age, not knowing what the older kids at school were talking about when they spoke of sex and things alike. I related to being innocent, being uncomfortable around the "big kids," still uninhibited by cynicism, believing people were good and wanted to do good.
Most of the book is Charlie's inner monologue. I loved being able to listen to his endearing, childlike voice, his unique way of seeing the world, even when it was hard to listen to. So many times I just wanted to hug Charlie when he was going through anxiety, depression, and deep-seated trauma. Man, I would want to be friends with this kid, no matter how awkward he is. Throughout reading Perks, I didn't feel like I was reading a fictional tale narrated by a fictional boy. I felt like these were letters from a sweet kid telling me all about his life. I felt like I was walking in on this alternate universe.
I'll admit, I was a little nervous picking up this book--a book that had teen parties and sex and drugs (neither of which I did/do), I didn't know if I wanted to delve into that, read about that heaviness. I was already in high school and reading was supposed to be an escape. The thing that made it all easier to bear was the fact that Charlie was narrating. We were both so new to all this, we were both little kids in a way. Charlie didn't delve deep into more than he could handle and so I never read anything more than I could handle.
Overall, The Perks of Being a Wallflower made me feel... everything.
I'd recommend this novel to only teens who can handle some really heavy topics (sex, drugs, mental illness, rape, abuse), so I'd say the average 16 year old would be okay....more
Gut-wrenching, insightful, and emotional. Only Child is a 6-year-old boy's perspective of grief and healiFirst of all, this has got to become a movie.
Gut-wrenching, insightful, and emotional. Only Child is a 6-year-old boy's perspective of grief and healing after he witnesses a tragic school shooting and his brother is killed. And though Zach is 6, he has insights about his situation that the adults in his life don't, and through these insights and his childlike innocence, he helps the adults in his life heal.
Though Zach is the main character, the novel also focuses on his family through his eyes, who are so blinded in grief, they struggle to emotionally support their son. His mother who verbally attacks the father of the shooter (who is a family friend) and becomes a cold shell of what she used to be. His father, who's trying to keep the peace, yet watches as his relationship with his wife crumbles. And Zach's 10-year-old brother Andy who was fatally shot. Though sad he's gone, Zach can't help but feel a bit happy about it--Andy had major anger issues and his meltdowns and mean behavior hurt the family. And Charlie, the father of the teenage school shooter who Zach's mom is furious at--Zach sees the fact that though he could have realized his son's pain earlier, he didn't cause the shooting, and deserves (like everyone in the community, including Zach) compassion, sympathy, and space to grieve. Only Child doesn't end on a picture-perfect note, but it ends on a real note.
Only complaint: There were times where Zach seemed a little too mature for 6. He makes nuanced observations, metaphors that an adult would be proud to come up with, and processes his emotions pretty much by himself, which no child (and most adults in this situation) can do. In terms of his language (both narration and dialogue), there were times when Zach sounded like a 6-year-old and others when he sounded like a 10-year-old....more
Though I didn't get too attached to the plot, I have to say that (as someone with the disorder) this is probably the best description of OCD I have reThough I didn't get too attached to the plot, I have to say that (as someone with the disorder) this is probably the best description of OCD I have read. Thank you, Wesley King, for shining a light on this painful, and often misunderstood emotional condition.
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