my thoughts on the mysterious skin novel (SPOILERS)

 an hour ago i finished reading the mysterious skin novel; it was so beautiful and definitely one of the best written works I've ever had the pleasure to read.  I really loved how eric is a lot more relevant in the novel because i felt like his character in the movie wasn't explored nearly enough, and his bond with both neil and brian was a lot more intimate than displayed in the movie, which i feel adds a lot to the story. maybe it was just me, but in the movie eric only seemed to have a mere crush / spark of interest in neil as he was veiled in this mystique due to the likeliness of neil's character, which made sense and also made it appear like eric had only just met neil. his friendship with brian was way more meaningful and explored in the novel than shown, seeing that eventually he developed the same interest and care for brian as he did for neil. im not a  big math guy but it created this sort of image in my head, two parallel lines cut by a transversal, right down the middle.

 I thought it was beautiful how both brian and neil's moms referred to eric as a 'second son of sorts' due to how often he was around to support both of his friends. what they all had was much more profound than displayed in the movie and i feel like eric couldve had some more credit for the development of both of their characters (especially with how brian only began to realise what truly happened to him after him and eric became friends, and also changing his clothing to unsuccessfully mimic eric's wardrobe). wendy also played a really meaningful role in the novel, at the beginning she idealizes neil but that slowly forms into a more familial, motherly bond she has with him, caring for him and checking up on him, as well as being his roommate once he moved to nyc, while also living her own unique life which sparked a lot of interest for me. it was interesting to me how despite in the movie wendy, neil, and eric are shown as this rebellious teenage trio, they never meet all together in the novel, and all three of them only ever have one person by their sides. dont get me wrong, i loved wendy in the movie and her actress was amazing, but i feel like this profound loneliness they all displayed and how they only had one friend throughout a period of their life really gave a lot of insight into how they were as people and how unfortunate their town must have been, and i prefer the story that way. 

In the end, i love how the story is told from each persons perspective, going into all their personal lives. it was nice to see little details not mentioned in the movie. like eric being a poet and also shaving his head after neil leaves for nyc, and there being cats surrounding neil and brian at the final scene after they broke into the house.