Then I started to think how much Charlie and I had in common. Reading the perks of being a wallflower made me feel more emotional than I already am. In the end we learn the root of Charlie's psychological problems, and we confront, with him, the coming rigors of 11th grade, ever hopeful that he'll find a suitable girlfriend and increase his vocabulary. Charlie's English teacher and others have a disconcerting tendency to rhapsodize over Charlie's giftedness, which seems to consist of Charlie's unquestioning assimilation of the teacher's taste in books.

Into these standard teenage issues Chbosky infuses a droning insistence on Charlie's supersensitive disposition. Patrick goes with Brad but breaks up with him when Brad's father discovers their relationship.

Charlie goes out with the uppity Mary Elizabeth. Sam is pretty, and Charlie learns about heartbreak. Patrick is gay, and Charlie learns about gay. He hangs out with a group of seniors, among whom are Patrick and Samantha. Charlie has the usual dire adolescent problems-sex, drugs, the thuggish football team-and they perplex him in the usual teen TV ways.

The crying soon gets out of hand, though-in subsequent letters, his father, his aunt, his sister and his sister's boyfriend all become lachrymose. Charlie's response-valid enough-is to cry. The novel is formatted as a series of letters to an unnamed 'friend,' the first of which reveals the suicide of Charlie's pal Michael. Charlie, the wallflower of the title, goes through a veritable bath of bathos in his 10th grade year, 1991. 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.Ī years-long #1 New York Times bestseller, an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults and Best Book for Reluctant Readers, and with millions of copies in print, this novel for teen readers (or “wallflowers” of more-advanced age) will make you laugh, cry, and perhaps feel nostalgic for those moments when you, too, tiptoed onto the dance floor of life.Ī trite coming-of-age novel that could easily appeal to a YA readership, filmmaker Chbosky's debut broadcasts its intentions with the publisher's announcement that ads will run on MTV.

Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. First dates, family drama, and new friends. 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. 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. 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.

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