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Book Review of The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower
virago avatar reviewed on + 267 more book reviews


So after reading this book, I am glad I held off on watching he film adaptation because I wanted to read the book first. This was a smart choice on my part, because although I have still yet to see the film, I just don't know if the film will hold up to the book. Not to say that the movie will be bad, but I just don't think it will be as good.

I will explain as much as possible without spoiling the book.

Some people might find the fact that the entire story took place in a series of letters from Charlie to a friend annoying, but I found it very interesting. This story was a...well I can't say roller coaster, because while it had ups and downs, it wasn't the type of ups and downs you would experience in a roller coaster type novel. This was more of a journey with dips and bumps. It was somewhat coming-of-age, but more so a journey in finding the truth and becoming whole. Figuring out who you are and who you want to be. It was about just being.

Charlie was this wonderfully innocent and naive character that you just routed for. You wanted to see him happy; you wanted to hug him most of the time. And on the rare occasion you wanted to shake him and ask how it was that he didn't know these things. But in truth, there are a lot of people like Charlie who live in their own world, and just don't know things that their peers know, things that one would assume someone of their age and intelligence should know. But there were so many other things that he did know that were really important to his character.

I feel like I related to Charlie in so many ways, but in other ways I was just like everyone else, thinking, "You should know this!" or "You should act this way."

The end of the book was surprising and really unexpected, but not in a bad way. I really enjoyed the journey of Charlie, so much so that I only put the book down because I started reading it late and I was just too tired to finish.