Manon DV reviewed a book.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a story that revolves around the life of someone known as "Charlie," a freshman boy's alias. "Charlie" narrates the story and the format of the book is a series of letters, written by "Charlie" himself to an anonymous person. Throughout the story, "Charlie"...”
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a story that revolves around the life of someone known as "Charlie," a freshman boy's alias. "Charlie" narrates the story and the format of the book is a series of letters, written by "Charlie" himself to an anonymous person. Throughout the story, "Charlie" describes the events and basically just about anything that goes on in his unpredictable teenage life. Readers do not know any information about the anonymous person and the letters explore many topics of the life of "Charlie." Some of the topics that are included in this coming-of-age novel includes drugs, sexuality, abuse, some of the awkward moments that come along with being a teenager, and introversion, which is the idea of a person being more concerned with his or her inner thoughts and feelings, rather than with external things.
One of the reasons why I enjoyed The Perks of Being a Wallflower so much was because of the character description of "Charlie." Specific appearance descriptions of "Charlie" are not included in the story; instead, "Charlie," can be summed up in one special word: wallflower. Even just by looking at the title of the book, the novel already gives readers the impression that this might be an unusual book because of the word "wallflower." Before hearing about or reading this book I had no idea what a wallflower was but I thought that it seemed like it was something worth finding out. If you don't know already, the definition of a wallflower is: a person who has no one to dance with, or feels shy, awkward, or excluded at a party and someone who remains on, or has been forced to the sidelines of an activity. You could say that "Charlie" is living in his own little world of thoughts, where he finds himself observing and analyzing different things and people instead of "participating" in life, something that "Charlie" is advised to do more often.
"Charlie" draws readers in with his range of funny, thoughtful, emotional, and sometimes awkward experiences about his life that many teenagers can relate to. I wouldn't say that everything that happens in his freshman year is something that all high schoolers go through, since some of them are unexpected, but it is interesting to think about who really has gone through high school experiences similar to those of "Charlie," and what it must have been like. By writing almost daily letters, "Charlie" brings readers along with him into a journey of his mind and his life. Also, readers will notice how "Charlie" changes throughout the story, which is another fascinating aspect to pay attention to while reading this book.
The ending of this story definitely surprised me once I found out what the true meaning was. Before I read the story, one of my friends told me that she was confused when she finished this book because she hadn't realized what had really happened until she looked it up online. I wasn't sure what to expect, since I hadn't read the book yet, but that fact was simply another reason why I really wanted to read the book. Similar to my friend, I had to look up the meaning of the ending to the story and when I did I was shocked by the ending and shocked by the fact that I hadn't realized or noticed what had happened at all. I believe that the cleverness of this secret ending buried between the lines was quite clever... props to you, Stephen Chbosky.
Overall, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is a book that I will always remember as being one of the most interesting books that I have ever read. I know that many people often write that a certain book is the "best" book they have ever read and that their opinion of their favorite book seems to not be set in stone as it is switching ever so often when they read a new book. For me, however, I don't believe that this was the case. After I read The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a book that was recommended to me by a lot of people, none of which who said that it was not "amazing," I honestly felt like it was, in fact, one of the best books I have ever read, even though I don't think I have ever had an absolute favorite book before. I would definitely put this book in a "Top 10 Young Adult Books to Read" list, if I had one.
My Favorite Quote:
"And in that moment, I swear we were infinite." - Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower”
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