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 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.~ The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I’ve done that.  What that quote up there talks about.  I’ve gone on drives with my friends for the sole purpose of driving through the tunnels to see the city on the other side.  Windows down, Radio up.  Usually Lady Gaga playing or some other contemporary that we all identify with.  It really is a grand entrance.  Absolutely nothing like it in the world.  I’ve been to cities all over the place- Boston, London, Philadelphia.  And though I plan on leaving this city in a few short years to settle down somewhere else (hopefully in the UK), Pittsburgh will always be home and that view will always have my heart.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is my favorite contemporary novel.  Probably because I am a wallflower.  Probably because the quotes and ideas are rather brilliant.  But mostly because I am from Pittsburgh and that gives the novel a whole other dimension to love.  As I sit inside my dorm room at a local university, I can see the bridges.  To my right is the skyline, to the left one of the three rivers and, you guessed it, more bridges.

Reading a novel has a lot to do with being able to envision the people and places.  Knowing that this novel was written in Pittsburgh, in my hometown, means that I don’t have to try very hard to see it.  I know the places where Charlie is growing up because I grew up here.  And because I know where he is, when reading the novel, I’m there, too.

Sure, you don’t have to know the setting to be able to relate to the novel.  But it makes it so much easier, and I dare say even a little bit more meaningful, if you do.  Even further than that, I have the ability to act out these scenes with my friends.  We can drive downtown and see the lights glimmering off the water.  We can feel infinite, just like Charlie and his friends.

So yes, I do believe that novels are something identifiable to anyone, whether you’ve been to the place that they are located or not.  Maybe I’m biased, but I also think that being where the novel takes place makes it about a hundred times better.  Then, not only do you get to see it, but you also have the chance to live it.