The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Reader reviewed by Bookworm9

This extremely heralded book is about a bright, sensitive, and somewhat naive freshman named Charlie. The entire book is written as letters to a "friend" to whom he remains anonymous. The letters describe his struggles and triumphs in school, relationships, and at home.

The book is definitely well-written and intriguing, and Charlie is a likable narrator. The ending was surprising and fitting. However, I thought a lot of the storylines either played into stereotypes or else were completely out there. To me, a lot of it did not seem realistic at all. I mean, what teenage guy has really never heard of masturbation? Many of the characters just didn't ring quite true to me.

By all means, you should read the book-- it's good. I just don't think it's the end-all and be-all of "glimpse into high school literature" the way many critics have made it out to be.

Reader reviewed by Emily

I've had mixed thoughts about this novel. I bought it because I liked the cover (yes, I know, I do it too much). It turned out to be a bit overstated, perhaps even angsty,,,,,,,,However, the story was rather unique and intriguing.

The plot follows a naive adolescent bookworm in his first year of high school. Just entering the world of (literally) sex, drugs, and rock n' roll, he spirals through a whirlwind year of discovery, sexual confusion, social exploration, and the curative essence of music. The Perks of Being a Wallflower will ring a bell for every high school student or graduate, as all have experienced confusion in the throes of learning to grow up. If nothing else, it contains a great mix-tape playlist.

Reader reviewed by Stephanie

Nervous about entering high school, 15-year-old Charlie begins writing to a stranger, addressed as friend. He writes about everything: school, family, friends. There is a lot of tension between him, his older brother, and his older sister. At school, Charlie does very well in English, where his teacher gives him extra books to read and write about.

However, Charlie also has difficult connecting with and understanding people and making friends. He manages to befriend a great group of seniors who help him gain experience as well as realize that, while there may be many perks to living at the fringes of life, sometimes you have to participate, have to confront yourself in order to move on and grow.

Ive always heard of this being a must-read for all teenagers. I guess that makes sensebut read it before its too late and doesnt appeal to you anymore. Charlie is quite an annoying and pathetic character that I could not really sympathize with, except at the end.

Reader reviewed by erica

A friend recommended this book to me a few months back and I finally got around to reading it. Ugh! What a disappointment.

My biggest beef with this book lies in the fact that the author tries too hard to be profound and wide-reaching instead of letting it be a simple story about high school existence. Within the first 50 pages, "Charlie," the main character, confronts suicide, abortion, homosexuality, abuse, rape, drugs, alcohol, death and depression. One of these alone might have stood up, but all together it's just a little too much. (Think: "Rent")

What's worse is that sometimes these things are the focus of just one chapter and don't ever come up again. Suicide is mentioned then dropped. Abortion is mentioned and dropped. Rape is mentioned then dropped. It's as if Chbosky had a checklist while he was writing this to make sure every conceivable issue made an appearance. Had the author focused a bit, it could have been a much better book.

I will concede there were a few "perks." The book had some funny moments and there were times I found Charle relatable. However, in the end I didn't feel like the book took me anywhere. It could have ended 50 pages later or fifty pages sooner and I woudn't not have been able to tell the difference.

If you want a book from the perspective of a messed up teenager read "The Catcher in the Rye." Personally I feel even that book is over rated, but at least it's more honest than this one.

Perks of Being a Wallflower is a strange mix of heartbreak, annoyance and tediousness. There were certain enjoyable parts of the novel, but the bad far outweighed the good in this case.

The novel follows Charlie, painfully shy, introspective, highly intelligent and socially awkward. He is a wallflower, watching on the outskirts while people live their lives. On the advice of his teacher, he starts putting himself in new situations, and what follows is one of the best years of his life. Charlie is introduced to a world of dating, music, drama, new friends; a world of sex, drugs, musicals and books. Charlie was content to life his life on the fringes, but now is the time for him to see what life is really all about.

Charlie was a average and elusive character. His frank discourse so often reminded me of a child, which evoked deep endearing feelings from me, at least at the beginning of the novel. The book is set from Charlie’s perspective and, considering how painfully awkward he is, the style of writing reflected that: it was astonishingly simple and the were sentences rigidly structured. It was always “This happened, and then this, and then this and now I am sad.” It is suggested that Charlies has some sort of disability, but it is never specified, so I understood the need for this particular style of writing in order to get into Charlie’s head.

It worked, at least for a while. And then it began to feel like reading this book was a chore, rather than a pleasure. The writing style grew dry very quickly and achieved the opposite desired effect. I could not connect with Charlie because I began to find him repetitive and artless. It is a shame, because I so very much wanted to like him.

Patrick and Sam felt greatly removed from the novel, despite them being Charlie’s best friends. They were present in scenes, but at the same time they were transparent characters. Sam was the clichéd next-door-neighbour type of girl that the protagonist can’t help but fall for, while Patrick was a stereotypical gay boy. They did not feel like fully-fleshed out characters, but rather like poor attempts at one. This greatly confused me, as I so enjoyed their characters in the companion film. Chbosky actually wrote the screenplay so I don’t understand how his characters could be so different. Perhaps this is also a testament to the elementary writing style.

The plot was, frankly, all over the place. I personally felt that there was a mix of too many issues and I think the book could have greatly profited from a narrow look at one or two of these issues, rather than a dozen. The result would have been a cleaner novel that would have allowed more people to emotionally connect to. It was almost like Chbosky sat down and wrote a list of all the things a stereotypical teenager from an American movie would do and included every single one of them in his novel. It was also incredibly awkward to read about these issues as Charlie, while fifteen years old, reminded me of a child.

Perhaps one of the reasons I did not enjoy this novel as much as I thought I would have was because I expected it to be exactly like the film. While the film was accurate with certain events and scenes, there were many new scenes that were included which positively affected the movie. Unfortunately, because I had watched the film, I also knew what the big reveal at the end of the novel was going to be and I was not as shocked or disturbed as I ought to have been.

Overall, I was disappointed in this novel. I expected a well-written coming-of-age novel about a socially awkward teen, but received a superficial look at teenagers and their issues instead. I can certainly see elements of a good novel in this book, and understand why many other people loved it, but I am just not part of that group.