The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chboksy…

Charlie is a freshman.And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his year yet socially awkward,he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it.

Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mix tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But he can't stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

The Perks of Being a Wallfloweris a deeply affecting coming-of-age story that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

Last updated on 30 May 2016

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That was last Thursday, and I had to baby sit that night, so I took it along with me. And I read the entire book in one evening. I think this happened for three reasons: a) I had nothing else to but read while the kids slept, b) it was a super short book – only 231 pages, and c) I couldn’t put it down. I have to say that it is a little odd how much I liked this book. It’s not normally a book I would go for, especially with the letter-style of writing, but I felt like it was a a book that is labelled a modern classic, and I need to read it. Also, I wanted to see the movie, but if there’s a book that the movie is based on, then I won’t see it until I’ve read the book.

Anyway, I’m glad I did read it, because it was really good. ‘Perks’ is written in letter form, as I mentioned, and the letters are simply addressed ‘dear friend’, and they are from the book’s main character, Charlie. Charlie is a highly introverted, slightly awkward, 15 year old kid from the early 90s, writing to this ‘friend’ every few days/once a week ish, simply telling of what is happening in his life, who he is meeting, what books he’s reading, and really just describing the everyday life of a teenager trying to understand and find his way in the world.

Charlie begins his freshman year at the beginning of the book, and soon discovers friendship Patrick and his beautiful sister, Sam. Patrick and Sam embrace Charlie’s oddness and draw him into a life of parties, first kisses, drugs, and general teenage drama. Doesn’t sound that fantastic, right? But in among the parties and the everything-for-the-first-time kind of feel, there is also a range of other themes running through the book, like friendship, dos and don’ts of dating, suicide, mental illness, sexuality, and family. While it really is a coming-of-age story, it’s one that is riddled with beautiful sentences, thoughts and metaphors that make it a pleasure to read. Chbosky, writing as Charlie, does so wonderfully, and while you’re never really sure if events played out the way it says (every event, conversation, and account being seen from Charlie’s young eyes), it draws you into the story, and gets you tangled up in Charlie’s crazy world.

The characters are are some of my favourite characters in a YA book, I think. While Charlie himself is hard to read (no pun intended), and it’s difficult to really understand what’s going on, characters like Patrick are brilliant, and even though they are, of course, from Charlie’s perspective, it’s written in such a way that you believe whatever Charlie says about his friends.

I don’t really know what else to say about it, only that if you haven’t read it, do. You might love it, you might hate it. But I think it’s one of those books where you have to give it a go. It was a little hard getting into it, as the letter-style was really just a whole lot of flow-of-consciences at times (but I guess that’s what teenage life is, really), but once you get passed that, it’s really is a brilliant read.

I thought I’d leave you with some of my favourite lines/parts from the book:

“Gift four was a harmonica and a book about playing it. I guess it’s probably the same gift as the watercolours, but I really think that everyone should have watercolors, magnetic poetry, and a harmonica.” – Charlie, after buying Secret Santa presents.

“I was just confused all day.” – Charlie. I love this. Sometimes I’m confused all day too. Heh heh.

“So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we’ll never know most of them. But even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we to from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.” -Charlie

“And in that moment, I swear we were infinite.”

“We accept the love we think we deserve.”

What about you? Have you read The Perks of Being a Wallflower?

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