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

Forever by Judy Blume

This is a story about love. Kath and Michael met at a friend's New Year's Eve party. They start dating and the relationship becomes serious. Michael wants to take the relationship to the next level - sex. Kath isn't sure she's ready for sex. Or if Michael is The One she wants to lose her virginity to. Forever takes you on a journey of two teenagers in love, thinking that it's true love, and that they will be together forever. But at the age of 18, can you really find true love? Or is just your first love? One of many "loves" you encounter along the way to true love?

I remember reading this book when I was in middle school. The appeal at the time was that the book contained explicit material; in other words SEX! And bad language. This book was way different from the Sweet Valley High books I was reading at the time. One of my friends had the book and the book was passed around our little group of friends, from one friend to the next. None of us were bold enough to purchase the book on our own. Before Forever, I knew of Judy Blume through her YA (young adult) books - Blubber, Are You There God? It's Me Margaret and Superfudge. I was shocked to discover that Forever was more than just a story about a boy and a girl and teenage first love.

The reason why I thought about Forever was due to last week being Banned Book Week. I perused the list on the ALA's website and saw that Forever was on the list. I couldn't understand why. Yes, there's some language and sex in the book, but as I remembered, the story was more about Kath dealing with experiencing first love and the emotions and responsibility that comes with being in a relationship.  I decided that I would re-read the book. Maybe it was more explicit than I remembered.

Master by Bridget Morrow

"All she could think about was how careless she'd been, and how now she was dead"

The book Master takes place during slavery. The year is 1861 when we meet Lila, a 17 year old slave. She had just witnessed the lynching of her boyfriend, Percy. She is captured by Percy's killers (one of them being her owner, Mr. Benjamin).  She struggles but resigns herself to meeting the same fate as Percy. Just when she thinks her life is over, Lila is rescued by a mysterious man. She is not scared of him. When he removes the noose from around her neck and lifts her off the ground, she asks him if he is God. Lila is in and out of consciousness for several days. She finally wakes up but she doesn't feel the same. She learns the name of her rescuer, Alex, and that she is now like him. A vampire.

I first heard of this boook on the Goodreads webiste. The premise of the book piqued my interest. I was in my vampire stage after reading the Twilight books and the Black Dagger Brotherhood books. It took almost a year for me to find a website where I could order the book. I was so excited when I ordered the book from Publish America and it arrived a couple of weeks later.

Alex and Lila has a love that is like no other. Alex fell in love with Lila when she was an infant. He knew that he was going to "turn her". He didn't count on it being so soon. Reading this and it's only 20 pages into the book, I couldn't wait to dive into the life of Alex and Lila. A love that strong and passionate makes for a volatile and interesting relationship, especially since they are vampires which only amplifies the emotion.

Unfortunately, the focus o fthe majority of the book was not on Alex and Lila, but on Sally and other characters, which Alexa and Lila were a part of. The vampires were secondary characters in my opinion. I wanted more of Alex and Lila without Sally. I could have cared less about Sally and her life.  This was not what I expected. When the plot would shift from Alex & Lila and onto someone I had no interest in, I was disappointed. You can't tease the reader with this great love between two vampires and not write in detail about that love! I felt that Bridget Morrow, in her writing, would all of a sudden remember, "oh yeah. I need to write that Alex and Lila are madly in love". And then she'd move on to another character.  I know that due to their living circumstances, Sally was an important person in their life. But I didn't think it warranted being the majority of the book. 

I was ready for the book to be over. My disappointment continued with each turn of the page. Maybe I set my expectations too high.

It's an easy read. Some parts were a little confusing due to flashbacks or references to events that happened in that the reader was not aware of or that wasn't explained clearly. 

Don't expect this book to be like other paranormal romances or vampire books out there. 

My rating: 2.5/5

Living Dead in Dallas

This is Book 2 in the Sookie Stackhouse series. The book starts with Sookie finding Lafayette dead in the backseat of Andy Bellefleur's car. Sookie learns that Lafayette had recently attended a sex party and thinks that may have led to his death. In the meantime, a new supernatural being is introduced. Sookie is attacked by a maenad and Sookie and Bill go to Fangtasia to seek help and information from Eric. In return for his help, Eric asks Sookie to use her gift to help find a missing vampire in Dallas. Road trip! 

The majority of this book is centered around Sookie being in Dallas looking for the missing vampire and dealing with the fanatic religious group Fellowship of the Sun. We learn about other supernatural beings when Sookie is rescued by more shapeshifters (the kind that howl at the full moon). When Sookie returns to Bon Temps, she still has to solve Lafayette's murder. Even though in the first book, Sookie laments having her gift (or disability as she calls it), in this book, it comes in handy and makes her valuable to a lot of people.

Season 2 of True Blood is based on this book. Again, I was confusing the TV show with the book (since the season finale just aired a couple of weeks ago).  I'm looking forward to reading Club Dead - Book 3. I won't have True Blood to muddle my mind and will be able to read it with a clear head.

The book was a little slow in some parts but I finished this book a lot quicker than I'd expected. I think because I just wanted to get it over with so that I can read Book 3.

Dead Until Dark

Sookie Stackhouse is a waitress at a bar named Merlotte's. She lives in Bon Temps, a small town in Louisiana. Everything about Sookie is ordinary except for her disability. Sookie can read minds. It's not a talent that she advertises. She sees it more as a hindrance than an asset. Everything is normal and boring in Bon Temps until Vampire Bill walks into Merlotte's. Sookie had been waiting for a vampire to arrive in Bon Temps ever since they came out of the coffin and started living among society. Sookie is excited that Bon Temps finally has its very own vampire. A vampire isn't the only new thing to enter the small town. There's also a murderer on the loose. And this person seems to be targeting fang bangers - women who like to have sex with vampires. Sookie uses her "disability" with help from Bill and his vampire buddies to try and catch a killer before Sookie becomes the next victim.

I absolutely love HBO's True Blood. I'd never heard of Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series until the show premiered. I was immediately sucked into the show and its characters. While watching the first season, I thought about reading Charlaine Harris' books to see how similar the show was to the series. I never got around to reading the bookies until I saw Beth Fish Reads Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to become familiar with Charlaine Harris and the series. It was difficult at first reading Dead Until Dark because everything was in first person - from Sookie's perspective. I didn't expect that. You don't get to know more about the other characters unless they have a relationship with Sookie. True Blood also added characters that weren't in the book. For instance, on the show Sookie has a childhood friend named Tara. I was really disappointed that when I noticed that the character wasn't in the book.

I wasn't thoroughly impressed with Dead Until Dark. The book seemed to drag in some parts and I was ecstatic when I finally finished the book. That never happens. I'm normally sad when a book ends. I hope that now I know what to expect from Charlaine in regards to her writing style, I will enjoy Living Dead in Dallas more.