Charlie is the self-insert I needed in that first year of high school when nothing makes sense and your family is falling apart. Being able to read the mirror that he is-- a hyper-aware, self obsessed, pretentious, quiet mannered, sexually confused, literature fanatic kid. To be a wallflower truly means to be an observer at heart, rather than a participant, so to follow him as he breaks out of his own head and learns to enjoy himself is one of the most comforting things to read. 

I lived, breathed, and healed vicariously through him.