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

My Rating: ★★★★★
Date Published:  February 1st 1999 Publisher: MTV Books and Pocket BooksAge Group: Young Adult
Pages: 213
Do I own it?: Yes! (I own the movie cover of the book) 


Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads)

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.

This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction: The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed 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.

Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up

Review:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower definitely lived up to its hype! It's a wonderful coming of age story for a young 15-year-old boy named Charlie. This is the kind of book that really sticks with you for a long time. Its an extremely good example of why stand alone books are so great.

After I read this book, I really did feel different. This book changes you. It gives you a different perspective on being a teenager (if you are a teen while reading this book). It really does show you and help you understand things like the people who sleep with other people at a party just because they could. It really was sad at some points too. It had my emotions all over the place.

At first, I was skeptical because of the format that this book is written in. It's written in letters directed to a certain person. I didn't think that you would get the right feel from the book and everything that happens. I was wrong of course. It didn't even feel like it was written in letters. It truly was beautiful writing (only near the middle/end). That's another thing I want to talk about. The writing was terrible at first. It was extremely childish, but later on i discovered that it was supposed to be like this, because Charlie was still learning how to write properly. The last thing that bothered me was how much Charlie cried in this book. The amount of times that he cried was absolutely ridiculous. I mean, I know that at sometimes it was appropriate for him to cry, but at others it really was ridiculous.

Apart from that, I thought that the book was fantastic. It did teach me a thing or two! I cannot wait to see this movie. I know that it's going to be as good as the book.