Perks of being a Walflower

Book name: Perks of being a Wallflower

Author: Stephen Chbosky

Genre: Young Adult- Contemporary 

Standalone/Series: Standalone

Publishing Date:  February 1st 1999

My Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Summary:

Read the cult-favorite coming of age story that takes a sometimes heartbreaking, often hysterical, and always honest look at high school in all its glory. Now a major motion picture starring Logan Lerman and Emma Watson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a funny, touching, and haunting modern classic.

The critically acclaimed debut novel from Stephen Chbosky, Perks follows observant “wallflower” Charlie as he charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood. First dates, family drama, and new friends. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

Goodreads

My Review

This book is a compilation of letters to an anonymous person from a boy named Charlie and it is set in the 1990’s. I have a thing for diaries and journals and letters and so this book was really appealing to me. The letters were combined in a very nice way which made sense. At times I felt as if the letters were directed to me. As if the person-Charlie, was writing those letters to me, talking to me, about his life. I got a strange positive feeling while reading this book which I can’t express in words.

The protagonist and the narrator, or writer of the letters, - Charlie, is the sweetest character I've met (in a book of course). He is so genuine and observant and what you can call a good person, an actual good person. He is referred to as a wallflower, who observes everything going around him and tries to know the meaning of life without even knowing it.

 The narration is excellent. We come to know about all the people in his life who have affected him in the past and are shaping his present. This book portrays Charlie’s journey through high school and all the problems children face during that time and how they cope up with them, make friends and how the time spent in high school is the best time of one’s life which is relished throughout life.

This book also talks about some serious issues seen from the eyes of an innocent boy. The language was really very easy. If you are just starting to read then this book can prove to be the one to get you into reading, and if you are already in love with the habit of reading, then this book has the power to make you fall for reading again and with more intensity. Also if you want to know what happens in high school or are going through hard time, this book can show you the positive side of life and give you hope that you’ll find a way out. Coincidentally, I was having a bad time and I read books when life seems tough, so I picked this book not knowing anything about it and now that I have finished it, I feel happy and not alone.

If you have read this book then what was your favorite scene? *Spoilers Ahead* Mine was when Bill tells Charlie that he is special. After reading that scene I thought if anyone had called me special or something like that ever, but unfortunately for me the answer was no. I just hope someone says that I am special too someday.