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The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky • Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer • Currently on my Bookshelf
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Since moving to London, which is what most of my narratives start these days, I’ve had quite a roller coaster ride in the emotional form. It’s hard to move to a place to call home, but that place is empty of all the people you love and care for. Though England, similar to America in some ways, has its major dissimilarities. This is something that most of my expat friends and I discuss on the regular. I constantly feel as if I’m running through various emotional tunnels trying to navigate the big maze. From that point I decided it was necessary to read a novel that was humbling in thought-provoking. One that included a storyline, but embedded with something a bit deeper. I was obviously going a psychological renaissance and so I decided to pick The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
I started this book on the train over to Heathrow as I was readying myself for my trip to South Africa. And the next thing I knew, I was 30 then 60 then 100 pages in. You are sucked into this coming-of-age story of Charlie who is trying to navigate his life after a tragic loss. I resembled Charlie back in school, one who was shy and behind a sheer curtain. Though people knew me, I wasn’t the most comfortable. And so as he experiences love, loss, growth and maturity-the tale tangles among his emotional curiosity. A novel that challenges and take you back to your wild days of youth.
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
I walked across the street to a park after picking up Foer’s novel, sat on a bench that flirted with the shadows of the tree right next to it, and opened the book to the first page. I had fallen in love with Oskar at that first instant. Though a nine-year-old who lost is father in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Centre, Oskar was such a dynamic character. I felt almost immature in comparison as he seemed to understand people and pick up on the littlest of details to easily. Oskar found a key in his father’s closet and he was determined to find the lock in which it belonged to. His search leads him to strangers, history, stories, places all of which brings him closer to peace.
