"The Perks of Being a Wallflower". Who hasn't heard about this book? It's all over social media, especially on Tumblr and especially after the movie came out. But this one definitely deserves the hype. 
 When I watched the movie a few years ago I fell in love with it and it's one of my favorites since then. So when I found out it was based on a book, obviously I had to read it. And I can't express how happy I am that I finally did it! Reading books after you watched the film versions is always worthy in my opinion, but this one is a must. There are so many things you simply cannot put into a movie. 
 Lets start talking about the actual book, shall we? It's written in epistolary form where the main character, Charlie, writes letters describing his life to an anonymous person. So since we only have Charlie's point of view the whole time, we get to know him very well and we get to see what's in his mind. He's just this pure, naive, kind-hearted boy that went through so many struggles, I just wanted to hug him and be his friend. But at the same time he makes mistakes and has flaws, making him human. This creates a strong connection between him and the reader. 
 The writing is also something that has a huge impact in this connection, since it's so simple and easy to understand, you really feel like you're talking with a teenager. In fact, it feels like you're listening to the voice inside his head. 
 Also, I found interesting the fact that Charlie is such a good student and loves reading and writing essays, and actually he is advanced for his age, yet his writing and language was very plain. 
 The other characters were also very interesting, rich and complex, which provided more depth to the story and brought more topics that are very present in many teenagers lives such as abortion, suicide, violence, sexuality, etc. 
 Personally, sad scenes where something horrible happens are not the ones who make me sad and tear up a bit, instead the ones that I find relatable and that hit me way too close to home do. In this case it was Charlie's introversion, since I am an introvert myself and I know how hard it can be to "participate" in things and express feelings. It made me look into my life and reflect about the way I see and do things. 
 But I confess that I didn't feel 100% connected with this book simply because my high school experience was a little different than the most. My middle school sort of incorporated high school as well a few years ago so I didn't have to go through all the changes like Charlie has, since I still had some of my friends with me and most of the people I didn't know were familiar faces to me. 
 Nevertheless, this book teaches many important lessons. My favorites were definitely when Sam told Charlie to express his feelings so that he could achieve what he truly wanted and when Charlie accepted himself and decided that his past would not define him and that it's okay to feel bad even if there are so many people who have it worse. This inspired me a lot and I will always carry these messages with me. 
 I highly recomend this book to everyone. I believe every teenager feels like an outcast in some way, even if just for a while, and this book will get you. But even if you aren't a teenager you can learn so much with it and, of course, have a little session of nostalgia. 
 PS. Now that I finished my review, I am a little bit sad because I feel like it's not good enough and this book deserves so much better. Sometimes it's hard to put things into words, specially when there are so many emotions in between.