'Ko Un' poem

고은

어쩌자고 이렇게 큰 하늘인가
나는 달랑 혼자인데



Ko Un

For what the sky is this big
Whatever I am alone

The Perks of Being Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

The Perks of Being Wallflower
I met this story through the film before I read the book. The movie was good, the story was nice and all actors and also their acts were very good. So I came to read the book, and I definitely sure that the book is good as much as the film - actually, it is even better than the film.

There are lots and lots things to talk about this book.

1. It's dark and heavy. Even though the main character and also narrator, Charlie, is very pure in someways, but the story is not that bright. It has profound meaning inside. Also the stuffs that are handed in the book is heavy, like the rape, drugs, suicide or mental illness. I think Charlie is the best narrator for this book because of this reason - if it is not Charlie, it will be even darker than now.

2. Characters' names. Many of the characters such as Charlie's families didn't even named and also characters who were named is not their real name as Charlie mentioned in the beginning. However, since the receiver of the letter is a classmate of Charlie, so even though he used fake name, probably he or she could guess who Charlie is. Ironic.

3. Charlie became to remember what aunt Helen had done to him, when he slept with Sam. One thing to consider is, Charlie slept with Marry Elizabeth before with Sam, but the memory didn't come up in his mind. I think this is because both aunt Helen and Sam are the one who Charlie really loved. He didn't fall in love with Marry, but he really loved Sam and also Helen even though she had raped him.

4. Overlaps. The girl who was raped by her boyfriend in Charlie's room during the party, is similar to Charlie's sister's situation. These two girls got hurt from their boyfriends - the boy hit Charlie's sister's face (Gosh, it is really uncomfortable to write without names) - but they had no choice what to do. Because they still loved their boyfriend, and didn't want to break up. It's kind of sad thing, but they grew enough unlike when Charlie was young, they had to take care of themselves first and know what is right or wrong.

5. Poem that Charlie read for Patrick. My friend taught Charlie's friend who was suicide wrote this poem, but I'm not sure. I couldn't understand this poem exactly, but I can guess it was about how much people changed and it hurts others. Sometimes, we just want to go back to childhood.

6. Charlie was shivering when he freaked out. It was maybe because Aunt Helen got car accident on the load that was covered by snow. And because she was on the way to buy his birthday present, he felt guilty about her death.

There were more things to talk, but these are all that I remember until now. It was good novel and it makes me think about lots of things, like what happened around me now or in my mind. But still, it was complicated and deep, so I think I had to reread this several times.