When a book gets critically acclaimed you know you're in for a ride 
 This book brings up so many issues that are very important in society and the author tackles them through the characters, especially Charlie, Sam and Patrick 
 I think the author really did a great job in capturing the mind-set of a teenage boy (Though I am not a boy therefore I cannot judge =p) even though there were times I felt that Charlie's actions and thoughts belonged to someone younger, but then again it could be the characters nativity reflecting on the page. 
 The story structure was very smart in terms of telling the stories though Charlie's letters, the reader may not be there during the time that everything happens but the reader does get a sense of everything that went on during the events that occurred in the story. There is also a sense of the book being very personal since the letters are addressed as "Dear Friend" and the reader never knows who Charlie is really writing these letters for so it feels like they have been addressed for the readers eyes only.