Not everyone managed to finish this book this month. Of those people who had finished most enjoyed, although some felt that Charlie was just a daft young boy who was simply going through various elements of growing up. We felt that he was quite a naive young man and also an unreliable narrator as he seems to not remember things that have happened to him. He also seems to remember things but then put a different spin on them which takes the reader a while to figure out. One thing that Charlie is absolutely great at is picking presents, he really does get them spot on even for people he's not around very much. He's not great when it comes to other people skills and we wondered if he might be somewhere on the autistic spectrum as he does some odd things that he doesn't understand the bad reaction to.
All the characters in the book seem to be slightly odd or unconventional, such as Charlie with his mental health issues, or Patrick hiding a whole side of his life from everyone. Some seem to have been so badly hurt by their lives they turn to doing odd things like Aunt Helen. There is a very dark side to this book but it seems to almost be skimmed over without going into too much depth, often the reader has to figure out things for themselves as they aren't always clear.
We did find Charlie to be a bit of a baby at times, even given his family history. He does seem to cry at the drop of hat, and this seems to irritate him as well as us as readers. We felt that we could be friends with him but might only tolerate him for short periods of time, or maybe within a larger group.
We discussed what being a wallflower means, the positives and the negatives to it. We thought that Charlie liked being a wallflower to a certain extent because it meant he could observe people and try to learn what to do in different situations. But the down side of this is that people may not notice you if you suddenly disappear, they would not miss you.
Overall we gave this book 6 out of 10.
All the characters in the book seem to be slightly odd or unconventional, such as Charlie with his mental health issues, or Patrick hiding a whole side of his life from everyone. Some seem to have been so badly hurt by their lives they turn to doing odd things like Aunt Helen. There is a very dark side to this book but it seems to almost be skimmed over without going into too much depth, often the reader has to figure out things for themselves as they aren't always clear.
We did find Charlie to be a bit of a baby at times, even given his family history. He does seem to cry at the drop of hat, and this seems to irritate him as well as us as readers. We felt that we could be friends with him but might only tolerate him for short periods of time, or maybe within a larger group.
We discussed what being a wallflower means, the positives and the negatives to it. We thought that Charlie liked being a wallflower to a certain extent because it meant he could observe people and try to learn what to do in different situations. But the down side of this is that people may not notice you if you suddenly disappear, they would not miss you.
Overall we gave this book 6 out of 10.
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