Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Bill to Charlie: "...It's just that sometimes people use thought to not participate in life."

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

Banned Books Challenge

Banned Books Week is the only national celebration of the freedom to read. It was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than a thousand books have been challenged since 1982. The challenges have occurred in every state and in hundreds of communities. People challenge books that they say are too sexual or too violent. They object to profanity and slang, and protest against offensive portrayals of racial or religious groups--or positive portrayals of homosexuals. Their targets range from books that explore the latest problems to classic and beloved works of American literature. - Banned Books Week.org



Banned Books week was September 26th thru October 3rd of this year. I didn't discover BBW until it was almost over.  When I saw the list of the banned and challenged books on the ALA's website I was horrified. Some of the books on that list are American classics!  I love reading and would hate to be unable to check out a or purchase a book because someone deemed it offensive. And because of my love of reading, I decided to create my own personal reading challenge - Banned Book Reading Challenge. The Challenge will be from October 3rd (the last day of BBW) and ends September 26, 2010 (the first day of BBW). First, I'm going to read the 10 most challenged books of 2008. 

The most challenged books are:

1. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
2. His Dark Materials by Phillip Pulman
3. TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R (series), by Lauren Myracle
4. Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
5. Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
7. Gossip Girl (series), by Cecily von Ziegesar

8. Uncle Bobby's Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen

9. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini

10. Flashcards of My Life, by Charise Mericle Harper

Once I've read the books listed above (wow that's going to be a lot of reading) I'm going to pick 5 books from the banned and challenged list of classic books. Some of these books are books that I've read in high school and want to read again.

Here are my 5 books:
1. Native Son by Richard Wright
2. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
3. Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin
4. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
5. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

If I discover that I'm close to getting everything read by the end date, I will add more books to the list of 5.

I've already read one of the books on the list of 10 and will be sharing my thoughts about the book - the perks of being a wallflower - in a later post.

 I look forward to this challenge. This is my way to celebrate the freedom to read!