William E. Elston, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Self at 17 Yrs.), 1983
(November 5) Although it uses all the popular components of YA (teen) novels I’ve read lately -- the standard suicide, sexual abuse, confusion about sexual identity and an abortion -- it isn't a totally predictable book, and that's a redeeming feature.Charlie is more than just a compendium of all the teen traits... he does have them all, but he’s really endearing. So the novel is quite likable overall.
But there's big question for me at the end: who is Charlie writing to? Apparently I am not alone, for this is a highly googled question surrounding the novel. No one has a convincing answer. Many suggest "you, the reader" ...which is... ::sigh::
A mystery set up as tantalizingly as this one should offer a clue to a satisfying answer... even multiple satisfying answers would be fine..."satisfying" is the operative idea here.
I liked Charlie's definition of a good movie: "you feel different afterward." Agree.
