Book Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

“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 years 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.“

---

---

I’m blown away by this book. I originally watched the movie before reading the book and thought the movie was emotion. But in all honesty, I think the book was ten times more emotional and better than the movie (Is this even shocking?).

I loved the characters and especially Charlie. He was just a cute, naive yet very smart character. His struggles during his childhood really hit home and made me sympathise with him a whole lot more. Overall Charlie was just a misunderstood kid, who had some very traumatic experiences in his childhood, which we find out more about around the end of the book. It is also hinted at a bit throughout when he talks about his memories of his favourite aunt who passed away.

I  think the way that they touched on his traumatic experiences was done very well. Overall, the way that they had written the character allowed us as the audience to see how these experiences have overall impacted him overall as a person.

I think that Chbosky has a great writing style. The book was written in a way that allowed me to keep reading without stopping and it just made the whole thing flow together. I loved the ideas of writing the book in a letter format, It made us feel like Charlie was writing to us about his experiences which allowed the audience to further engage with the book. In doing this, it kept things interesting.

I would definitely recommend reading this book with the music that goes along with it. I found a playlist on Spotify  (there are also some other ones available on t8racks which I will be linking below) that included all the music that was listed in the book, and I think listening to it as the character talks about listening to it in the book really enhanced the reading experience, so you should definitely give it a go! (link to the music playlist here)

Favourite Quotes:

“So this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I’m still trying to figure out how that could be”

“And she kissed me. It was the kind of kiss that I could never tell my friends about out loud. It was th kind of kiss that made me know that I was never so happy in my whole life”

“I laid on his bed, and I looked through the window at this tree that was probably a lot shorter when my dad looked at it. And I could feel what he felt on the night when he realized that if he didn’t leave, it would never be his life. It would be theirs”

“Craige said the problem with things is that everyone is always comparing everyone with everyone and because of that, it discredits people, like in his photography class”

“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 go from there. we cans still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them”

“I think that the only perspective is to really be here. Like Sam said. Because it’s okay to feel things. And be who you are about them”

Rating:

I’m rating The Perks of Being a Wallflower a 5 out or 5 rating. This book was utterly amazing and I couldn’t put it down! The story was utterly amazing and so incredibly sad that I felt like I was on an emotional rollercoaster (but in a good way) . I definitely think more people should read this book, I even think that kids in highschool might even enjoy looking at it in their english classes as it touches on a whole lot of concepts, including a concept of belonging (which is what I was studying in highschool). This book is definitely a must read!