The Perks of Being a Wallflower Review

Book Review #11: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Overall Rating: 9.5/10Plot: 9.3/10
Writing: 9.5/10
Characters: 9.5/10
Originality: 9/10
*New Feature* Theme: 10/10 

Sample Passage: I think that if I ever have kids, and they are upset, I won’t tell them that people are starving in China or anything like that because it wouldn’t change the fact that they were upset.  And even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn’t really change the fact that you have what you have.  Good and bad.  Just like what my sister said when I had been in the hospital for a while.  She said that she was really worried about going to college, and considering what I was going through, she felt really dumb about it.  But I don’t know why she would feel dumb.  I’d be worried, too. And really, I don’t think I have it any better or worse that she does. I don’t know.  It’s just different.  Maybe it’s good to put things in perspective, but sometimes, I think that the only perspective is to really be there.  Like Sam said.  Because it’s okay to feel things.  And be who you are about them.

Genre: Young Adult Realistic Fiction
Ages: 16 and up 

Number of Pages: 213 | Movie Paperback Edition
Published: 1999 

Summary: After Charlie’s only friend, Michael, committed suicide, he knows his freshman year of high school isn’t going to be easy or fun.  His only friend at first is his English teacher who gives him books to read, all of which are his favorites.  Then he meets Sam and Patrick, who are both seniors, and they teach him that he is truly a wallflower, he sees things, he keeps quiet about them, and he understands.  With help from them and a few others, Charlie finally finds the perks of being a wallflower, and he attempts to uncover the mystery of his past and where he will finally fit in the terrifying world of high school.

Review:  My mom and my sister both read this book, and they really didn’t like it.  They thought that it was completely shallow and inappropriate, and they just didn’t get it.  My mom, I could kind of see her not getting it, she’s an English professor and not a teenager.  But my sister’s opinion really surprised me.  I had also heard a lot of great things about this book from my friends and critics.  I hate walking into a book with this many biases on it already!  Luckily, I was able to put those thoughts out of my head and take the book for what it was.  And I have to say, my mom and sister were wrong.  I thought this book had a very deep meaning behind it.  It was very well written and definitely worth the read.

The plot doesn’t seem very original at first, because it’s just about a freshman who doesn’t fit in trying to find his way to fit in and find friends in high school.  We’ve all heard that, and some of us have even lived it, but we have to keep in mind that it’s not always the plot that makes a story original.  In this book it was the characters, and the way the story was written.  It’s not exactly a diary form, but it’s basically Charlie writing letters to someone who is only named as “friend.”  You never find out who this person is, but the letter writing really shows how Charlie feels about the situations he finds himself in.

The plot of this story has been described as inappropriate, pointless, and cliche, and yes, I can see that if you just look at the plot.  There is a lot of inappropriate stuff, some of it unnecessary, but that problem is solved when you see it through Charlie’s eyes.  He’s so innocent that he really only describes these scenes as needed, not with unnecessary detail.  The plot is not pointless, there is a big message stated in the end, a deeper meaning behind all this.  That was one of the things I loved about this book: Charlie’s monologue about perspective at the end.  It would be cliche, but the telling of it and the situations are not.  I’d also like to point out that this is supposed to take place in 1991, but it doesn’t feel like it at all. It feels like it could take place in today’s time. I thought that was really cool.

Because this story is in first person and only from Charlie’s view, all we know is what he knows, and in some books this may be a reason for lack of character depth.  But throughout the story you start to learn things about the characters through Charlie’s innocent, unbiased eyes.  You end up being very attached to the characters at the end just like Charlie is.  All the characters are pretty much likable, and the stupid things they do just don’t seem as stupid as they would in the other books.  The way these seniors just take on a freshman with little to no ridicule makes up for it I guess. Charlie can be annoying at some times with his over emotional ways, but in his heart he is truly a good person, completely unselfish, and that’s what I like to see in a main character.

The writing was fantastic in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Chbosky did a wonderful job.  I feel like Charlie is just talking to me throughout the book, telling me all these experiences that happened to him.  There is not a whole lot description, but definitely enough so I can picture everything in my mind (and that’s really hard for me, so that should tell you guys something).  Sometimes it’s just really nice to see the world through a different pair of eyes, and Chbosky takes us to that level with Charlie.  Only very rarely did the writing confuse me.

The newest feature in my reviews is theme.  I added this because every good novel has to have a deeper purpose, something that you can take away from the novel, step back, and say “Oh. I get it. That was good,” instead of just throwing it down on your bed and walking away.  There should always be a reflecting period.  The only exception to this would be trilogies or series where the theme might not be in the first book, it might be at the end.  The theme of Perks was all about perspective, and how it’s okay to feel things. I feel like I definitely walked away with an idea planted in me, and I was able to reflect deeply on this book

Overall: If you are bothered by adolescent inappropriateness, then you may just want to get over that to read a fantastic book with a theme that will leave you breathless for a while.

Coming up Next: Legend by Marie Lu