Product Description

Standing on the fringes of life... offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor. This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative new voice in contemporary fiction: "The Perks of Being a Wallflower." This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3521 in Books
• Published on: 1999-08-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
What is most notable about this funny, touching, memorable first novel from Stephen Chbosky is the resounding accuracy with which the author captures the voice of a boy teetering on the brink of adulthood. Charlie is a freshman. And while's he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. He's a wallflower--shy and introspective, and intelligent beyond his years, if not very savvy in the social arts. We learn about Charlie through the letters he writes to someone of undisclosed name, age and gender; a stylistic technique that adds to the heart-wrenching earnestness saturating this teen's story. Charlie encounters the same struggles many face in high school--how to make friends, the intensity of a crush, family tensions, a first relationship, exploring sexuality, experimenting with drugs--but he must also deal with the devastating fact of his best friend's recent suicide. Charlie's letters take on the intimate feel of a journal as he shares his day-to-day thoughts and feelings:

"I walk around the school hallways and look at the people. I look at the teachers and wonder why they're here. If they like their jobs. Or us. And I wonder how smart they were when they were fifteen. Not in a mean way. In a curious way. It's like looking at all the students and wondering who's had their heart broken that day, and how they are able to cope with having three quizzes and a book report due on top of that. Or wondering who did the heart breaking. And wondering why."

With the help of a teacher who recognises his wisdom and intuition, and his two friends, seniors Samantha and Patrick, Charlie mostly manages to avoid the depression he feels creeping up like ivy. When it all becomes too much, after a shocking realisation about his beloved late Aunt Helen, Charlie checks out for awhile. But he makes it back to reality in due time, ready to face his sophomore year and all that it may bring. Charlie, sincerely searching for that feeling of "being infinite" is a kindred spirit to the generation that's been slapped with the label X. --Brangien Davis, Amazon.com

Review
A novel of surviving adolescence in a US high school, presented as a series of letters written by the protagonist, Charlie, to an anonymous recipient. Charlie does not entirely fit in but nor is he a total outsider. Sitting on the fringes he undergoes the standard teenage rites of passage; suicide, sexuality, first love, first kiss, first joint. The author does achieve a believable 15-year-old voice but this is just a nice kid with a few problems; as a subject, Generation X is desperately boring. This is a universe away from the psychotic intensity of Catcher in the Rye - read Salinger's classic instead for a better look at problem adolescence. (Kirkus UK)

Aspiring filmmaker/first-novelist Chbosky adds an upbeat ending to a tale of teenaged angst - the right combination of realism and uplift to allow it on high school reading lists, though some might object to the sexuality, drinking, and dope-smoking. More sophisticated readers might object to the rip-off of Salinger, though Chbosky pays homage by having his protagonist read Catcher in the Rye. Like Holden, Charlie oozes sincerity, rails against celebrity phoniness, and feels an extraliterary bond with his favorite writers (Harper Lee, Fitzgerald, Kerouac, Ayn Rand, etc.). But Charlie's no rich kid: the third child in a middle-class family, he attends public school in western Pennsylvania, has an older brother who plays football at Penn State, and an older sister who worries about boys a lot. An epistolary novel addressed to an anonymous "friend," Charlie's letters cover his first year in high school, a time haunted by the recent suicide of his best friend. Always quick to shed tears, Charlie also feels guilty about the death of his Aunt Helen, a troubled woman who lived with Charlie's family at the time of her fatal car wreck. Though he begins as a friendless observer, Charlie is soon pals with seniors Patrick and Sam (for Samantha), stepsiblings who include Charlie in their circle, where he smokes pot for the first time, drops acid, and falls madly in love with the inaccessible Sam. His first relationship ends miserably because Charlie remains compulsively honest, though he proves a loyal friend (to Patrick when he's gay-bashed) and brother (when his sister needs an abortion). Depressed when all his friends prepare for college, Charlie has a catatonic breakdown, which resolves itself neatly and reveals a long-repressed truth about Aunt Helen. A plain-written narrative suggesting that passivity, and thinking too much, lead to confusion and anxiety. Perhaps the folks at (co-publisher) MTV see the synergy here with Daria or any number of videos by the sensitive singer-songwriters they feature. (Kirkus Reviews)

Synopsis
Charlie is a shy and introspective boy, a wallflower always standing on the edge of the action. He encounters many of the struggles familiar to everybody from their school days, but he must also deal with his best friend's suicide and shocking realization about his beloved late Aunt Helen.

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Customer Reviews

It's always difficult to review a book...
It's always difficult to review a book, as that which you may have loved, may not be someone elses cup of tea.
This book is no exception to this rule. You may like it, love it, hate it, think it's a load of rubbish, or not have any opinion on it what-so-ever. Because taste in reading matter differs strikingly from person to person, I rarely write reviews for them, but "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" had to be an exception.

It is, no question, one of my all-time favourite books, and I have bought many copies, giving them as presents for people who I know would enjoy it as I have.
If you read the synopsis and are still undecided, I'd go for it. Originally, I picked it up in a bookshop one day because the cover attracted my attention, and I'm so glad I did!

It's fair to say it won't break the bank, and could be a book that changes your outlook on life, even just for a little while. You come to love Charlie, his letters and his sense of humor as he journeys blindly through the world of growing up, trying his best to fit in. It causes you to laugh, cry and feel all the other emotions in between.

I couldn't put it down. A must.

A definite Must Read.
Chbosky has created a wonderfully likeable and sympathetic character in Charlie.

I liked the letter format taking us through a series of firsts in Charlie's life.

The narrative is intelligently written and both humorous and poignant by turns. This book made me smile a lot and as an adult, I found it a very rewarding read.

I highly recommend it.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
Charlie. Where to start with the character that every teen can relate to? He's not a character teens should look up to, respect, or idolize, because he makes the mistakes that every teen does. He is just proof that someone else really is going through the same thing. He really becomes more of a friend then anything.

This book is written as a journal, but Charlie writes like he's talking to a real person. It's definitely a different way of writing, and it really works for this book.

Charlie really is a wallflower. He looks at his life like he's watching through a window that he can't get on the other side of.

Charlie experiences all of the things that normal teens are exposed to, and he handles each in a different way.

Read THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, because Charlie makes you realize that everyone is going though the same types of ordeals. Love him, hate him, root for him, and cherish him. I know I always will.

Reviewed by: Taylor Rector