The Perks of Being a Wallflower原著小說

終於看完The Perks of Being a Wallflower的原著小說。

這是一本青少年成長小說，全書以書信組成。主角Charlie是個十五歲的高中男生，他定期寫信給一位不知名的收件人，將他的生活感受寫下。收件人是誰不重要，讀者可當作這是Charlie寫給讀者的信。

想看原著小說，是因為電影十分好看，而且在網上找到一段精彩的節錄。但是，小說卻比想像中平淡得多。Charlie的書信用字簡單，語氣幼稚，有點像出自小學生手筆。他那句經常出現的It makes me sad（或這句的變奏），看得多令人煩厭。書中對Charlie家人的著墨比電影要來得多，而對Sam和Patrick的描寫則比電影少。或者演Sam和Patrick的兩位演員太突出了，令電影比小說來得精彩。Charlie的選角也一流。音樂對在這套電影中起了關鍵作用，如home coming dance播的那首Come On Eileen和the tunnel song Heros，都為電影大大增添魅力。今次，電影的聲色藝勝過原著。（但也有可能是我「先入為主」，這我無從證實）

書的前半部偶爾出現佳句，不過我最欣賞的句子集中在書的後半部。


好朋友高中畢業，要上不同大學，他們farewell之後又farewell，萬分不捨。我突然想起，這是我曾經有過的感覺。還有，這班朋友經常互送禮物，我在少年時代也是如此。人大了，更難想到送什麼禮物給朋友。

可能我在看戲時已受夠感動，看書後已沒什麼特別感想要分享了。就分享我喜歡的內文吧：
青春逝去，世代循環，永遠叫人感慨－－
I look at the field, and I think about the boy who just made the touchdown. I think that these are the glory days for that boy, and this moment will just be another story someday because all the people who make touchdowns and home runs will become somebody’s dad.
And when his children look at his yearbook photograph, they will think that their dad was rugged and handsome and looked a lot happier than they are.

有一個如此體貼的弟弟，很難得－－
And how she was actually very pretty. And how different her face looked when she realized boys thought she was pretty. And how different her face looked the first time she really liked a boy who was not on a poster on her wall. And how her face looked when she realized she was in love with that boy. And then I wondered how her face would look when she came out from behind those doors.

全書我最喜愛的一段－－
There’s something about that tunnel that leads to downtown. It’s glorious at night. Just glorious. You start on one side of the mountain, and it’s dark, and the radio is loud. As you enter the tunnel, the wind gets sucked away, and you squint from the lights overhead. When you adjust to the lights, you can see the other side in the distance just as the sound of the radio fades to nothing because the waves just can’t reach. Then, you’re in the middle of the tunnel, and everything becomes a calm dream. As you see the opening get closer, you just can’t get there fast enough. And finally, just when you think you’ll never get there, you see the opening right in front of you. And the radio comes back even louder than you remember it. And the wind is waiting. And you fly out of the tunnel onto the bridge. And there it is. The city. A million lights and buildings and everything seems as exciting as the first time you saw it. It really is a grand entrance.

我在小時候也這樣想過：
I think that if I ever have kids, and they are upset, I won’t tell them that people are starving in China or anything like that because it wouldn’t change the fact that they were upset. And even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn’t really change the fact that you have what you have.

電影中那句「I am infinite」，撼動人心。我們一度，都「feel infinite」－－
Not caring if I saw downtown. Not even thinking about it. Because I was standing in the tunnel. And I was really there. And that was enough to make me feel infinite.