The Perks of Being a Wallflower
by Stephen Chbosky
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Book Reviews of The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Book Review: The Perks of Being a Teenager
Summary: 4 Stars
Teenager-vulnerable, youthful, and, above all, impressionable. The teenage years is really the progression from child to adulthood in which a teenager learns "the ways of the world." In reality, a teenager learns his most important lessons in highschool when dealing with peer pressure, relationships, and life. Highschool is a tough venture, and Stephen Chbosky's book, the Perks of a Wallflower, truly helps a teenager cope with the times by the realization that there is someone in a more difficult situation. Charlie, the narrator, who tells the story of his freshman year of highschool deals with some issues that few teens have ever fathomed, and somehow appeases a teenager's complaints about his or her own life. Charlie's best friend Michael committed suicide in middle school, while his Aunt Helen died on his birthday. Charlie receives very little affection at home and, with the death of his Aunt Helen, Charlie feels unloved and unnoticed. He cannot make friends with people his own age because he is looked upon as a "freak" and a "dork." Therefore, he finds his place among a senior group of "non-conformists" who enjoy heavy smoking, sex, and drugs. Charlie will do anything to belong and his innocent mind is soon opened to the twisted world around him. Every teenager can really relate to Charlie by the fact that they do things which later seem "stupid" just to "fit in." Charlie's insecure nature related to how I feel wandering the superficial and judgemental halls of highschool. Charlie exhibits insecurity with girls, and even allows his homosexual friend to kiss him just so he will be his friend. Charlie is perhaps the pinnacle of a highschool student in regards to fitting in, only more intense, lonely, and real. Another aspect of Charlie's life that I can really relate to is the fact that his town is a typical large town of the 90's, which means it is very close to how I live. Moreover, the book is really many letters that Charlie wrote to an anonymous person comprised into a story. I thought this was a creative way to write and tell a story, but since the story was in the eyes of a freshman the writing seemed more like speaking. Although this made it easy to follow, it sometimes felt all too simplistic. The book is written on a reading level for middle school children, yet the contents of the novel are geared toward mature teenagers in highschool. I found this to be one of the book's few fallacies. Overall, I found the Perks of Being a Wallflower very enjoyable because, at some point in a teenager's life, one feels like a wallflower, just an average teenager trying so hard to reach out, but stuck in the background of life. I know that teenagers will not onl enjoy reading this novel, but can really relate to many aspects of Charlie's struggle for inclusion. Above all, the book helps a teenager realize that it can always be worse...Book Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is called The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky. It was published by MTV on February 1, 1999, and is 224 pages long. This book would best be classified as realistic fiction, and has a reading level of 4.8.
In The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the plot centers around a boy named Charlie who is in the process of finding out who he is as he transitions into high school. Charlie suffers from some psychological problems, which are later revealed to be the result of childhood sexual abuse. His problems are further compounded in the beginning of the book when his best friend Michael commits suicide. Charlie is thrown into the world of high school with no friends. His see it as it is thought process, along with his extreme shyness leaves him very alone at his new school. One night, he decides to go to a football game, which is something he and Michael enjoyed doing in middle school. While there, he meets Samantha and Patrick, step siblings and seniors at his school. The three become fast friends, opening the plot to Charlie being welcomed into their circle of friends. They find common ties in musical taste, pop culture, and ways of thinking about the world and their future. Charlie feels welcome in a social circle for the first time in his life, and quickly falls in love with Samantha. Samantha is seeing a college boy named Craig, though it becomes apparent that if Charlie had tried to express his feelings, Sam would have had a hard time turning him down. Throughout the book, he learns a lot about himself and what his closed off demeanor holds him back from doing. He is often anxious about being left behind when all of his friends go to college, but by the end, he has realized that he will be OK. His mentor teacher, Bill, provides Charlie with a means to use his intelligence to overcome obstacles in his social life, while getting him to realize that he can do great things. While Charlie initially clings to Bill as a source of support, their relationship also develops into one of mutual respect and caring. The reader can sense that Bill is one of the unique teachers whose lessons will be life long.
Overall, this book is excellent for young readers of the junior high or high school age group. More conservative readers may object to the sexual content, homosexual relationship, or drug use prevalent in the story, but these are realities of the high school culture in this day and age. The story line is superb, and has left many teenagers bleary eyed into the night, struggling to stay awake and finish reading the story of Charlie, who they can relate to on several levels. Anyone who has ever felt out of place in their peer group or dislocated in the huge corridors of high school will surely find this book to be a source of comfort. While not the traditional coming of age story, it is a real account of what a young boy entering high school may be feeling, facing, and struggling with.
Book Review: "I feel infinite"
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a very popular book. To see for yourself how popular it is you only need to know that it's backed by MTV (yes, the MTV generation is reading books now!), which ran several TV commercials for it. Surprisingly enough, it seems they picked a winner in supporting this novel.
The novel is written in a letter format. We're never told who the letters (or diary entries) are being written for, but I guess that's part of the appeal of the book; there's not alot of backstory to speak of.
Charlie is entering highschool. He seems to be scared, but he has his letters to use as an outlet for his inquiries and shyness. Charlie eventually meets up with "Nothing"--a boy who wishes to be called nothing if not for his name. His real name is Patrick, and his step-sister Sam become two of Charlie's very few friends. They introduce him to pop culture; we see that he sort of nosedives into it, because he's been a bit emotionally immature before now. The letter entries jump back and forth from discussing his friends, to discussing his introversion and lack of social skills. Eventually, Sam becomes a love interest, and she becomes the main focus of the novel for quite a few chapters.
I understand that ninth grade is an uncomfortable time in a boys life (I was there just 6 or 7 years ago myself), but many of the passages in this novel are not convincing; they present themselves as mockeries of what an actual adolescent would say, as written by an adult, rather than the genuine feeling one could express at that age. However, some of the chapters are really enjoyable and occasionally funny. I found myself more than once being reminded of my own adolescence--and this is, I feel, the main reason this book has such appeal. Like music, this book provides a solid amount of escapism for an early adolescent; it's not condescending or cruel, like we sometimes perceive the world to be. It's anecdotes can be comforting at times, while the ending of the book isn't so much of a comfort (though I also didn't think it a shock, as the other probably intended it to be).
The Wikipedia entry for this book states that nearly 1200 reviews have been written for this book. I'm not sure mine will be read by many, but I would like to say that while I think this book is over rated, I would not go as far to say that it is "miserable emo rubbish" (see Wiki entry). I give it more credit than that, and being such a short read, I'd recommend it to just about any adolescent interested in it, as I know how helpful escapism can be in that stage in life.
There are numerous parallels' to J.D. Salinger's THE CATCHER IN THE RYE, and the American Library Association has both that, and "Perks", listed as "banned". I think that could give it more attention than MTV ever could!
Book Review: Feeling Infinite
Summary: 4 Stars
Stephen Chbosky's debut novel tells the story of Charlie, who, after the suicide of his best friend in eighth grade, is a fifteen year-old high school student living on "the fringes of life". Charlie is not popular with his peers yet he is not really ostracized: he is a wallflower, 'he sees things, understands, and keeps quiet about them.' Yet there are many things Charlie would rather not keep quiet about, such as the time he sees his sister's boyfriend hit her, witnesses a football quarterback rape his girlfriend, the terminated pregnancy of his older sister, and the truth about his aunt Helen.
As Charlie navigates his way through the corridors of formidable high school, we learn about the colorful characters who influence his life: there is Bill, the first-year English teacher who gives Charlie special books to read and write essays about; Mary Elizabeth, a dominating, opinionated senior with tattoos and a pierced belly button; Patrick, the light-hearted jokester, who educates Charlie about girls, while keeping a secret of his own, and of course, Sam, Patrick's step-sister, whose beauty for Charlie goes beyond her brown hair and entrancing green eyes. In the midst of this motley crew, Charlie begins his transforming journey from adolescence to adulthood, innocence to intensity, with the first experiences of smoking pot, drinking, parties, and "Rocky Horror Picture Show". Meanwhile, all of this is relayed to us in the form of letters to a not quite anonymous person whom Charlie loyally writes to several times a month.
"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" is like modern-day synonym for "The Catcher in the Rye", excluding the cynicism and abounding in the sensitivity of teen idol Holden Caulfield. Through Charlie, we glimpse a firsthand view of self-examination and sentiments of genuine caring, devoid of the trite negativity and disinterest so characteristic of portrayals of adolescents. There were times when the plot seemed a little stale or hard to follow. I also felt that the author was too willing to accept drinking, drugs, and sex in excessive quantities as normal "coming-of-age behavior". There did not seem to be a lot of consequences to the mistakes the characters made. Yet the various matters of subjects are handled adroitly, and the ending is a superb surprise which will shock you as it is unexpected and seemingly unfathomable.
In Charlie, we find a young boy swept up into the torrents of the culture around him while desperately looking for someone to guide him on a straight path to maturity. Almost everyone can identify with being a Wallflower at times. "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" is for those on a quest to feel alive when they aren't quite sure what they are living for yet.
Book Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Summary: 5 Stars
First all I would definitely reccomend this book to anyone who enjoys reading about the the struggles that come with the high school years and all the pain and pleasures they bring. This book chronicles the high school experiences of a boy named Charlie who keeps a diary of events so desciptive that you feel like you are experiencing them with him. I do not read books that much but when I got hold of this book I honestly could not put it down. From the first page it drew me in and got me hooked because I knew what he was going through because I have been through high school and could relate. I found this book to have many merits and far fewer shortcomings. The first merit that stood out to me was the language that is used. Many books use language that is not fit for the audience that is reading the book butthis book uses the language that a boy in high school would use, therefor making it fun to read and also a lot easier to understand. The language gets quite graphic in some places so you have to be a little open minded in order to not be offended.
Another merit of this book that I picked up on was that it discusses topics in depth and does not skip over the topics that are considered taboo in today's society. In his diary, Charlie discusses such contraversial topics as homosexuality, drug usage, sex, feelings of guilt, domestic violence, and even death. I liked that this book delves into these topics pretty deep and shows how they affect Charlie. From Charlies point of view nothing is black and white or right and wrong because he is constantly getting different messages about situations. His lifeline in this book or the thing that makes him feel at peace is The Rocky Horror Picture Show and a special song that makes him feel infinite. Everybody can relate to this book because we have all been through the hell that is the high school years.
The last but not least merit that I will discuss is the format in which the book is written. One of the things I like about this book is instead of having a 15 page paragraph it has many short journal entries that are not super long so it is easier to read and not get tired or bored. I have discussed many merits of this exceptional book but one thing I could not find was any shortcomings. I liked everything about this book and personally did not find anywhere in the book that I thought needed improvements.
I would reccomend this book to anyone who likes to get involved in a good book that deals with real life situations. Charlie and author Stephen Chbosky take you on a rollercoaster ride that is constantly up and down. This book is passivtiy vs. passion and just a great all around book. Highly, highly, reccomended.