The Perks of Being a Wallflower takes place in the early 90s in an undisclosed town in America. The book is written from Charlie's, a 15 year old boy starting high school, point of view. The story is told in the form of letters addressed to an unknown person who Charlie refers to as "Dear Friend". Charlie starts writing the letters when his friend commits suicide and at the start of his freshman year in high school. Charlie is introverted, shy and suffers from depression. He has no friends. Charlie finds solace in the extra reading assignments that his English teacher, Bill, gives him. Bill notices that Charlie is different and takes a special interest in him. He encourages Charlie to meet friends and to do normal high school stuff. During his freshman year Charlie continues to write to his anonymous friend about his two friends - Patrick and Samantha - and all the new things he experiences. When I started reading this book, it took some getting used to. The form was different. I found myself hoping that the "friend" would finally be revealed, which never happened. While reading the novel, the letters seemed more like a journal as more intimate details of Charlie's life were revealed as he progressed during his freshman year. I enjoyed the book immensely and found myself rooting for Charlie. I wanted him to succeed in high school. I wanted him to have friends, go to football games and have a "normal" high school experience. I did find myself tearing up at some parts because Charlie was trying so hard to be normal like the other kids and couldn't quite get there. He could not figure out what he was doing wrong. Or what was wrong with him. He knew he was perceived as being strange but he didn't know what to do to change that. The harder he tried, the more he failed. At the end of the novel, it is finally revealed the trauma that shaped Charlie into who he is.
I've read other critiques of this novel and the one critique that stood out was people complaining that the writing was too simple. What did they expect? It is written in the perespective of a 15 year old boy. Yes he's intelligent, but emotionally he's immature. And that is reflected in the letters when he's writing to his anonymous friend. I think the style of writing was perfect and it fit the tone of the novel.
"You're a wallflower. You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand." Patrick to Charlie.
Banned for: drugs, homosexuality, sexually explicit, suicide
My rating: 3.5/5
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