This book was depressing as heck and gave me the ick at some parts, but I still think it was an important book. I related to Charlie in some ways which I think is why I did end up liking it as much as I did. It’s hard for me to write a review for this book, to be honest because of a lot of the content in it. ( )

The Perks of Being a Wallflower
by Stephen Chbosky

#books #reviews #classics #contemporary

My Rating: 5/5

I guess I would be pretty dumb to give this a 5 star rating and call it just not bad. It is very good really and the point doesn't start hitting home until it is all taken in a stride in retrospection. It is the story of a teenager Charlie (or so he says his name is) .. who is really a good, decent youngster but finds it difficult to really "participate" or be involved in "action"/things .. he is rather like a wallflower .. watching and helping others but when it comes to his desires and wishes, they are pushed to the background. Why has he become the way he is and does he ever find a way out? The series of happenings in his life are passed to the reader through a set of letters .. more like entries in a private journal. Like all teenagers, he does smoking, heavy drinking and has a long term crush on Sam, his friend's sister .. and loves gifting people some creative things like mix tapes etc. Charlie is a sweet guy .. one of fiction's notable characters created I feel. ( )

Odd book. Readable, but odd. ( )

Such a really good and heartbreaking book. I saw the movie first and loved that but the book is even better! ( )

One sentence summary: I didn't like the main character and I don't think I understood it.

The main character was very annoying. He was a bit too clueless, and while other people probably find that cute, I am not one of those people. But good for him, finding people in-universe who put up with him. I'm happy that happened.

But sometimes, obviously, his cluelessness was just way too over the top, and it annoyed the shit out of me. Especially with the whole "kiss the most beautiful girl"-thing and going up to his dead friend's ex-girlfriend. Like, from Charlie's perspective they were not-so-great-moments, but look at them from the girls' perspective and it's downright fucking cruel, both times. Who does that!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

As for not understanding it ... I don't know what the revelation at the end was meant to do for me? It seemed like the biggest fucking deal in the entire book happened over just a few pages, mostly off-screen, and that's just weird to me. Shouldn't that have been a bigger deal or something? I know it was hinted at, and I'm sure rereading it would be very interesting, but still ... it seemed off or something. I don't know why it happened or what I was meant to take away from it.

Then again, I am way older than the target audience and possibly I would have felt different had I read it when I was younger. There definitely was parts of it that I did like, and it wasn't by any means a bad book or anything. ( )