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The Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of Stephen Chbosky's well known books. It explores the life of a confused boy, who's about to turn sixteen, intelligent beyond his years and is socially awkward.
The main character Charlie, is a fifteen year old boy who's life seems to be like a roller coaster ride. Charlie is a freshmen in high school who is by no means popular. He is very shy,but all that comes down to a mental issue that occurred because of something that happened when he was younger, which you will find out later in the book. The book is written in a way that makes it easy to relate to. Chbosky's style of writing is genius because it makes the book appealing to the younger generation namely teenagers. This is especially good because issues that Chbosky touches on happen to most teenagers.
The book touches on real issues and that makes it a good read. Charlie starts off high school in the worst way as his friend commits suicide and leaves Charlie in a bad state. Charlie writes letters to an anonymous reader known as 'friend'. Charlie tells this person everything that he does and feels, who he meets and loves. The book is a combination of all the letters that Charlie writes and that's what we get to read. Charlie finds it difficult to get involved in any group activities and prefers to spend time by himself,so the letters that he writes makes him feel part if something.
Charlie meets two vibrant people who are seniors at his school. The brother and sister pair are much cooler than he's is but accept him for who he is and for once Charlie feels that he is part of something. Patrick, a gay, happy and out-going teen and Sam, a beautiful young woman introduce Charlie to a new world of sex, drugs and love. They also show Charlie the power of music and he becomes much more knowledgeable about music.
With a new circle of friends, a new hunger for life and love, Charlie feels like he can take whatever comes his way. His English teacher Bill is very fond of Charlie and he keeps giving him books to read and Charlie never understood why. Until Bill invited him to his town house. Bill revealed something that made Charlie cry and speechless at the same time. That day Charlie saw himself in a different way.
The disappointment about this book is that Chbosky failed to mention where the story took place. This made it difficult to imagine what kind of place the characters were situated in. I wanted to know if it was based in the city, suburb or a rural area, if that was evident, I'm sure that I would have taken the book in a different light.
This book will make you cry, laugh and you will still read on. Charlie's story is remarkable and it something that most teenagers will relate to. This is the kind if book that you will want to tell a friend, your daughter and son about because of its gripping nature. At the end of your read, you might have tears in your eyes and find yourself hugging the book.
