Charlie knew a lot more as a freshman in high school than I did at the same age. When I read this back then, I had no idea what was going on. The interactions and stories and music and books and drugs were nonsense to my sheltered mind. So many obvious clues soared over my head.

All I remembered was the feel of the soft paperback and smooth pages of the library copy that had been through so many hands. My history teacher knelt in front of my desk as I read it and told me how much I was going to love it. Nothing of the plot stuck to me, because nothing made sense or mattered to me.

I didn't get it then. But now I do. I get why this means so much to people. And why it's one of those books everyone needs to read, and why it's quoted all over the Internet.

So wonderful and real and moving.