The Perks of Being a Wallflower

"And in that moment, I swear we were infinite."

The Perks of Being a Wallflower. If you want a 'feel good' book to read, this is not one to consider. The book discusses suicide, drugs, sex, abortion, battery, child abuse and mental illness and stuffed in between these problems are narratives of mix tapes, dating, late night parties, smoking cigarettes, skipping class, dysfunctional families, and how difficult it is to find your place in the world, and realizing that once you find it, it doesn't matter where you stand. As overwhelming as this sounds, the author Stephen Chbosky writes in a way that is perfect for people to read.  

     Charlie, an emotional, shy teenage boy, is an incoming freshman at his school. He writes these anonymous letters that starts off with "Dear Friend," and ending with "Love Always, Charlie" (which he mentions to us in his first letter that is an alias, and every name he mentions is used with an alias to keep himself hidden.) His stories are told only through these letters, and he unravels his undying love for one of his best friends, his encounters of the "drugged up world", and typical high school parties. On top of being an average highschooler, he finds that his emotions come running to him out of nowhere whenever they feel like. Not to act like one of those dads who tells his son to 'man up' and 'crying is for sissys', throughout the book I did notice that I was asking myself, "Really Charlie, you're going to cry over that?" With this trait, he became a character that was a lot different than the normal teenage boy character that is found in most books. Charlie is fascinated with music and reading, and there are several references to popular reads, like Hamlet and To Kill A Mockingbird. He also talks about his favorite song, Asleep by The Smiths, and whenever he talks about something he truly enjoys (like the song), he doesn't just say the reason is because the song is good. (I put the song in the left sidebar; it is a youtube video, check it out!) Charlie looks at everthing with a positive view as he tries to make the best of life.

     Throughout reading, I developed my own concerns for Charlie and I couldn't help but love him. Although at times he acted like an emotional teenage girl, he was as innocent as a freshman in high school could be. His realizations are fascinating, really. He sincerely only wishes the best for everyone and he looks at life with a different perspective than most people do. My favorite quote from the book is this: "So I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them." I believe that everything happens for a reason, and this is Charlie's acceptance to the way life is, and I think that this is a good way for someone like me to take a good lesson on life.