Given that it’s a fiction novel, I would say it’s pretty hard to stay consistent with the misspelled words written by Charlie. I really like seeing how Charlie’s thoughts and emotions became more and more meticulous as he became smarter: his realization about how other people had been treating him when he was intellectually disabled, his journey back to childhood traumas and the unhealed wounds, and how intelligence is not the key to happiness like he once imagined. This book taught me two things:
- Growth, be it intellectual, emotional, or career-wise, can rapidly change your life, you may lose the people who cannot keep up with your speed. I would like to see more how Charlie could figure out how to not lose everyone around him while becoming smarter; it’s possible, I believe. However, I guess the point of the story is that human psychology can be very complicated that even a genius like Charlie would have to struggle to make things right.
- Sometimes, trying desperately to control what others think of you may end up hurting yourself and those around you. Charlie’s mother is an example of how not to be a parent. This line just broke my heart: “But I guess I never stopped wanting to be the smart boy she wanted me to be, so that she would love me.” His eager to become smarter turns out to be a toxic combination of his loneliness, need of mother’s approval, and the mother’s shame of him.
The last line of the book sent me to the verge of tears.