Wow, I'm kind of surprised people are still reading this book. Its just been out for such a long time -shrugs-

Just my opinion though, books a million has it on their teen book club for this month or next month

NO. Charlie was saying his aunt helen was molested by someone in the family. it wasn't Charlie who was molested. it was the aunt! That was why she had lots of problems in life and had to move in with her sister, Charlie's mom. What happened in the end was right after Sam went home from the college program, they went to the tunnel and drove while Charlie climbed at the back of the pick-up truck. You'd get the meaning if you this if you read and understood the whole book. Then he summed up at how he wasn't so afraid of starting sophomore year and how he was looking forward to more things now.

hey. um thats all true. but pretty much very confused as well. aunt helen was molested, which we later (towards the end) find out messed her up a bit. this led to her molesting charlie, which he blanked out. when he's with sam (the night before she went to uni) he has flashbacks to being molested by his aunt helen, this then leads to him going into hospital, where he starts to process everything that happened. right at the end when he's going through the tunnel with patrick and sam, he's happier because now he understands and can resolve his issues. i haven't read the book in a while so i may have some of the timing or whatever wrong. but that's definately the basic outline.


also:







does nobody find this odd?

LOOL yeah that is odd.

and I never read ANYTHING about Charlie getting molested.. I really don't remember anything about charlie being the one molested..

I just finished the book about 1-2 weeks ago so it's quite still fresh on the plate.
It was a really good book. I was interested in reading it the entire time. I read some of the comments and I agree with most of them. This book was very inspiring and had many inspiring quotes. I loved Charlie's way of thinking. He was just incredibly unique. Not your average freshman, but overall, definitely not your average high schooler.

I'm reading it again

I totally forgot about the "special brownies" part.

yeh it wasnt really just said right out. but it's definately what happened. i've gone and got my copy of the book now to quote. which probably makes my life kinda sad. but i can deal with that. sooooo..the second from last letter, just after hes been with sam,

'when i fell asleep i had this dream. my brother and sister and i were watching television with my Aunt Helen. everything was in slow motion. The sound was thick. And she was doing what Sam was doing. That's when i woke up. '

a little bit further on in the same letter 'Except maybe my Aunt Helen. But she's gone. And even if she were here, I don't think I could talk to her either. Because I'm starting to feel like what i dreamt about her last night was true. And my phychiatrist's questions weren't weird after all.' (his phychiatrist had been asking him alot about his childhood)

so thenn. in the very last letter, he's been in hospital for two months in between. His doctor asks his questions about his aunt helen.

'i don't really want to talk about the questions and the answers. But i kinda figured out that everything I dreamt about my aunt Helen was true. And after a while, I realised that it happene every Saturday when we would watch the television.'

that's what he's talking about when he says 'the hardest part was sitting in the doctor's office when the doctor told my mom and dad what had happened. i have never seen my mother cry so much. or my father look so angry. Because they didn't know it ws happening when it was.' and again when he says

'the time it started to feel like everything was going to be alright was when my sister and brother stayed after my parents had left...they asked me a lot of questions about Aunt Helen because i guess nothing had ever hapened to them...It was at that time that things started to get clearer becasue there was nobody to hate anymore after that.'

so then all his friends and family come visit him and help him get better and he sort of starts to feel better because he knows what happened now, he understands what it was that i guess kinda led to his depressive episodes in the past, and feels like he has closure. i agree with whoever it was before that said they admired how he wasn't mad about it. he says
'i'm not the way i am because of what i dreamt and remembered about my aunt helen. That's what i figured out when things got quiet. And i think it's important to know. It made things feel clear and together....So, I guess we are who we are for alot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we cans till choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.'

i guess i could be wrong, but that's the only solution i have to how it ended. if i've compleeeeetely misunderstood (which, kinowing me is highly likely) then feel free to hunt me down or whatever.

What the hell I'm reading this book again. When he was with Sam the night before she left, I thought the flash backs were of Charlie and his aunt watching SNL late at night..but yeah I guess Jannette cleared it up..but I NEVER saw that line about how Sam was doing the same thing she was. I thought he ended up going to the hospital because he was extremely depressed about her death and blamed himself for her death.


aaaah I need to be careful about what I read I feel extra bad for Charlie now... after all of this he still loved his aunt.

i just read the book its so freaking awesome. i love it.

I wanted to read this book long ago! But I can't seem to find it anywhere.

.. Charlie did not get molested by his aunt Helen. What you have here is a prime example of misunderstanding or misanalysis or what have you.

“When I fell asleep I had this dream. My brother & sister & I were watching television with my Aunt Helen. Everything was in slow motion. The sound was thick. And she was doing what Sam was doing. That's when I woke up.”

This is nothing but a dream. Nothing but a dream. This is where you tripped into the your misunderstanding or misanalysis or what have you. & the following is where you started falling.

“Except maybe my Aunt Helen. But she's gone. And even if she were here, I don't think I could talk to her either. Because I'm starting to feel like what I dreamt about her last night was true. And my phychiatrist's questions weren't weird after all.”

I understand, kinda, where the misunderstanding is comin' from. But, on the other hand. I don't. In saying that he is starting to feel that what he dreamt were true he is not saying, “What I dreamt last night was true.” & no, what he said does not imply that it may be true. Take a look back at the previous quote, yeah, the one where he said that his sister & brother were watching television with his Aunt Helen. Sister & brother being the key words. Now, do you honestly believe that his brother & sister would allow their aunt to molest their brother while they sat & watched television? I kinda hope not. But, hey, if you believe that these types of things would go on with their approval, go for that mindset! It's okay.

“I'm not the way I am because of what I dreamt & remembered about my aunt Helen. That's what I figured out when things got quiet. And I think it's important to know. It made things feel clear and together ... so, I guess we are who we are for alot of reasons. & maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we cans till choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.”

I do believe you slurred together dreamt & remembered & automatically gave them a strict relevance. Well, you shouldn't have. What he dreamt is separate from what he remembered. He dreamt a completely fictional circumstance, he remembered his aunt Helen & staying up & watching television with her, & that she always bought him two presents, instead of one. I kinda don't like how you over-analyzed & misinterpreted what was being said. But, words are words, & you may interpret them however you wish. So, keep that mindset & I'll keep mine! Just thought I'd, uh, contribute my change.

to word guy

'the time it started to feel like everything was going to be alright was when my sister and brother stayed after my parents had left...they asked me a lot of questions about Aunt Helen because i guess nothing had ever hapened to them...It was at that time that things started to get clearer becasue there was nobody to hate anymore after that.'


and to you this means what exactly? and just to clarify i'm not asking to be picky, i genuinely want to know what you think. and i realise i could easily be wrong. except for that i think you're wrong. also because you keep using metaphors for what appear to be purely pretentious reasons and this makes me sad inside.

and i don't know but maybe you havent read the book in a while or maybe you've never really taken it in. so maybe go read it through with an open mind before you reply?

i didnt enjoy the book...because it had no real ending or plot. maybe thats why many love it


could someone just clearly answer this question?

what was the memory he had blocked out of his mind that the doctor helped him remember?
i had the impression his aunt was raped every saturday? im not sure.

Honestly, I did not know what “pretentious” meant. I looked it up, & I now I know. & sorry you think that. Better yet, I'm sorry it made you sad inside. Kinda.. eh, I'm really not. But, sorry seems like the appropriate thing to say. & maybe his brother & sister were asking him questions about aunt Helen because they knew he had been closer to her than they had. Maybe? & who did he have left to hate? Sean, who he got into a fight with, never confronted him again. Craig made amends with Sam, & Brad made amends with Patrick. & most importantly, he's made amends with himself. As some guy said a bunch of posts before my initial post, he didn't “psycho-analyze” himself until the end of the book, well.. his last letter. In this analyzation, he came to accept that he was not the direct cause of his aunt Helen's death. He came to accept that Sam would be leaving, & he'd have to deal with that. In his analyzation, he came to realize things change, & no matter what it said, these changes will continue regardless.

& uh, define what it means to read with an open mind. If reading with an open mind means that I should train myself to believe that the possibilities of what is being said is endless, I will have to say I chose to read with a closed mind. You can only go so far with analyzing a books meaning. Or, what is being portrayed. Well, I think so. So.. how about you read it again. & try to be a filter, rather than a sponge.

Mmmm. I ADORED this book. One of my favorites.

Words, i agree with bowl_of_oranges. I've read this book, i love this book and i have no doubt in my mind that Charlie was molested by his Aunt Helen. She, too, was molested. There can be no question in my mind as to whether he was or not. It is understandable to have missed it when reading the book, which many posters have admitted to doing, but they listened and acknowledged the help that others offered. This lead them to realise the terrible truth; Charlie was molested. The continuous quotes offered up by bowl_of_oranges leaves no other option or explanation. I do, however, appreciate that you have stood by what you believe in and look forward to reading further posts on this subject. Oh and i thought it was really sad when bowl_of_oranges said it made them feel sad inside

OOOOKAY.

So after much delay and procrastination (redundancy ftw!), I finally read the book. I think it was a very memorable book, but not a very good one. I hated, absolutely hated the ending. I thought it was terrible that the author would have Aunt Helen of molested Charlie - that's just dumb. Yes, it fits because she was molested when she was younger and blah blah blah, but it was just so inconsistent - with the brother and the sister in the house? Really??

Oh, and the writing style bugged me, too. It just got annoying. My friend said that it really is like how a friend would write to you, but I'm sorry, maybe it's just me, but I know absolutely no one who writes like that. Really.

The name Patrick irked me, too. At the beginning, Charlie says he'll use generic names, not the real ones. And yet Patrick already has a nickname - Patty. I don't mind the nickname Nothing, that's fine, but it just seems really weird to me that the author could be "using generic names" and yet Patrick, which isn't his real name, already has a nickname?

But but but, I will say that the book made me sob. I think what's great about the book is that it has great insight, the best parts of the book for each person are the parts they can relate to. When Charlie is describing the memories of Aunt Helen, Chobsky did they very very well, and I cried at nearly every Aunt Helen moment [except for the her molesting Charlie thing].

And, as Tina pointed out in another thread, there were very cute amusing moments.

"Masturbation is when you rub your genitals until you have an orgasm. Wow!"

^ that masturbation thing wasn't cute to me at all...it was disturbing.

Hhahaha, Kaycee. That was the most memorable thing to me from the book.


WAIT WAIT WHAT? Where in the book did it say aunt Helen molested Charlie? I think I was half asleep when I read the book and couldn't re-call that.

And umm, as for how good the book was.. It was alright. I personally didn't like Charlie's character and would not want to meet someone like him.

OK, so apparently we have a whole "molested by his aunt v. not molested by his aunt" debate going here, which I'm thinking is just plain stupid, but it also makes you think about the authors writing style, doesn't it? A lot of people are saying "I never saw that part, when did that happen?" and that is probably just because they didn't pay attention or didn't get it or any number or reasons. The author clearly left the ending up to a lot of interpretation, because it's just vague enough for us to be having debates. Am I right?

I do believe, however, that the aunt molested charlie, and I don't think its worth having a debate about, but that's just me. Again, the ending of the book was pretty non-specific, so there are a lot of ways you can look at it (and magically make the whole thing a metaphor.... *cough*)

I really did like the book, though, and charlie has some great taste in music if I do say so.

so i do read a lot but normally when i see a book or hear of one i remember the book or at leats little pieces


and i have read perks of being a wallflower, but i just really cant remember what its about

i know i loved it when i read it but.. it just wont come back to me

If Charlie wasn't molested by his aunt then what are they talking about when the Doctor told Charlie's family and how upset they were for not knowing what that certain thing happened? It's reasonable but at the same time you could speculate it as some sort of hallucination.

and what about this?

lol maybe I should have clarified I read it again and ended up liking it xD

I don't have this book anymore though, I sent it to this girl in las vages and she never sent it back because aparently liked it so much >_> I don't think its worth to go out and buy it again.

Our book store here decided to put this book on the summer reading list as well and their supposed to have a "discussion" about it, I don't think anyone showed up though.. (another besides books-a-million, thought I should say that since I said in my other post that it was in the teen club thing there xD )

I've been wanting to read this book for the longest time now. I'll make sure to buy it ASAP!

^ Same here. My friend recommended it to me and she showed me a portion from the book. It had me hooked.

I read this book like 2yrs ago, it was really awesome. You actually feel like you know Charlie (main character). Everyone should go to their nearest bookstore and buy it right now!