THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)
Fun Stuff => ENJOY => Topic started by: IndieRawk on 07 Oct 2006, 15:04
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My favorite book of all time, anyone else liked it?
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It was not what I thought it would be, but it was interesting. I think me expectations caused me to not like it as much as I might have.
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I read it in one sitting, on a roadtrip. It was depressing, but in a...good way?
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I liked it, but the character's attitude and the vague ending kind of grated me nerves.
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Fuck this book.
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I totally digged this book, the girl who loaned it to me to read totally didnt catch on to the fact taht the aunt molested teh main character thugh.
When she gave me the book she was saying it was the best book ever, once we were discussing it she completely wouldnt believe me. It totally rocked her.
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I hear people vehemently argue that this book is overrated shit, and I hear just as many people vehemently argue that it's amazing. I'll probably never read it because I like fence sitting.
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I thought this book was amazing,for sure in my top 5 favorite books.
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I enjoyed it quite a bit, but after all of the hype it recieved it didn't live up to my expectations.
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Hi, all!
The book was pretty mind-blowing for me, as i was reading it after A Million Little Pieces and The Outsiders. I appreciated the character Chbosky tried to develop, and can kinda relate with him in a lot of ways... Maybe except the fucked-up aunt part.
All-in-all, i'd say it's a rad book. Dunno bout the book's hype. It wasn't at all popular here in Manila.
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The first question that comes to mind when someone tells me they like this book is:
"Have you read The Catcher and the Rye?"
Because honestly, this book is trying to tell the same story, it just does so in an unecessarily sensational and cheeseball fashion. It isn't terrible... but it definitely gets its share of undue praise. A lot of Salinger's short stories along with other recent novels (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time) do a much better job of telling this "social out-cast/coming of age" tale.
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Catcher in the Rye ftw.
That being said, Wallflower managed to tell the same story in a way that was less depressing and more creepy: "Look, mommy, my wrists are bleeding. Isn't it pretttttttty?!"
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The first question that comes to mind when someone tells me they like this book is:
"Have you read The Catcher and the Rye?"
Because honestly, this book is trying to tell the same story, it just does so in an unecessarily sensational and cheeseball fashion. It isn't terrible... but it definitely gets its share of undue praise. A lot of Salinger's short stories along with other recent novels (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time) do a much better job of telling this "social out-cast/coming of age" tale.
Exactly my thoughts as I was reading the book
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Man, I don't get the appeal of this type of book.
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I guess you were never a depressed teenager
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By some standards I still am a depressed teenager.
I guess I just didn't spend my time making misinterpreted song lyrics the center of my existence and being an enormous badly-written twat. Either that or the fact that I find it absolutely impossible to see the appeal of reading about some moping bastard teenager. Especially if you are a moping bastard teenager. It seems terribly redundant. Just as, now, I wouldn't derive any satisfaction about reading a book about an unconventional art student going through relationship problems. Fictions about expanding your experiences and escapism, in my mind anyway.
Haven't read this one, but if the above comments are true then I don't want to.
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It's one of my favourite books.
Beautiful.
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Reading it the second time (the first time was when I was a freshman in highschool and a MAJOR FUCKING IDIOT) I realised the halt-and-go of the plot, the mediocre character development, and just the way that it was totally. fucking. boring.
All this, while barely tolerating an narrater who is a "mopey teenage" type with a bad vocabulary, bad writing skills, who is tragic in all aspects (watching him write about learning what masturbation entails was cringeworthy, especially at the ripe age of fifteen, was unrealistic and funny in the most painfully awkward sense of the word) makes for a completely noncompelling novel.
Seriously, what a stupid book. Grr.
I can't believe I liked it.
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Seriously, what a stupid book. Grr.
I can't believe I liked it.
I agree. The first time I read it I liked it; the same applies to Catcher in the Rye. But upon revisiting it, both are trashy novels that cash in on teenage angst. There's no actual emotions in here, just the typical struggle with anxiety and puberty... It's bad enough I had to experience that once, why do I want to read about it?
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It sits on a fine line between interesting and trite, and I think most of the time it is very interesting. Chbosky treats most of the events very well, and Charlie's personality is very well written.
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There's a collection of short stories that Chbosky helped to compile and edit that was much better than Wallflower called "Pieces." The fact that I discovered this as a result of seeing Wallflower in the bookstore a few years ago is the only reason I don't regret having read this book. Something about that book just seems to me like it was written more as a way to cash in on this whole "i'm 14 and sad" trend that apparently blew up a while ago than an attempt to write an earnest and meaningful story. Although if it has a positive impact on someone, great, and at least the MTV logo printed on the side of the spine of the book may have convinced some kid to put down the remote, turn off fucking TRL, and read a damn book...
/onion, belt, yada yada yada
</curmudgeonery>
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I pretty much agree with everyone else on this one - i thought the book was amazing in a totally surreal and rather depressing way. I did however, need to read it a couple of times to properly get it though. I think that this book is probably one of those that you either love hate or just leave well alone. :-)
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One of my friends really liked it, but I couldn't get past the first couple of pages. I thought it was kind of rubbish, but I think that about a lot of books. I'm just to opinionated for my own good.
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See, I like this book almost as much for its faults as for its successes. There's an off-kilter innocence to Charlie's character that's neatly contradicted by his developing smoking habit, recreational drug use, various sexual encounters, etc. The way the book is written makes you understand that this kid is totally in over his head. It's the choice of the kind of repressed Charlie, just smart enough to get absorbed in the counter-culture of his school, but dumb enough to fuck himself over, that makes it a neat little book. If the main character had been someone sarcastic, intelligent, cynical, etc. it would have changed the book completely.
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My only issue with this book is that it Charlie constantly cries. Its not the fact that its a male teenager crying, its just that he does it over everything. It's the least important point of the book, but it hurts my brain. Also that he goes on those rambling almost monologues (for lack of better word). I love the concept, and everything behind it, but if I knew charlie I probably would have wanted to shake him and say CHEER THE FUCK UP.