#16- The Perks Of Being A Wallflower By Stephen Chbosky

#16- The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

Rating- 10/10

This book has gotten a lot of attention lately due to the movie that is coming out this fall, keeping my fingers crossed that its good although I've never found movie adaptations to be even close to the magic found in books.

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower is a coming of age kind of book, written in the first person point of view from a boy named Charlie. After the suicide of a good friend of his Charlie decides that he needs to start living his own life to its fullest potential. Although tragically shy and rather awkward he befriend a group of older kids and slowly gets introduced into their circle. They invite him to parties, football games, and wild adventures while also respecting the fact that he is a little put off and shy about the entire thing.

Throughout the book Charlie is writing letters to an anonymous source, all about his life and the struggles and triumphs that he experiences. He comes out of his shell and realizes that giving other people love and attention isnt enough, that he needs to find these things for himself as well.

I think that my favorite thing about this book is the real life feel that it has to it, being a somewhat awkward girl in high school (lets be real, who doesnt think of themselves as somewhat awkward looking back on those years) I appreciated the realness behind the characters and the way that they experienced things that I had also gone through.

I liked the variety of characters, whether it be Charlie's sister who is somewhat embarrassed by him and doesnt want to ruin her popularity. Or Patrick and Sam (step-brother and sister) who welcome Charlie the way that he is and helps him become more of himself. Bill, Charlie's teacher who pushes him to read new books and think more of them in a new and inspiring way. 

They all had a way of coming alive within the pages and making the story more dynamic all the same. Overall the entire book is an excellent teenage piece and it makes complete sense that they have finally sold the movie rights, I only hope that is doesnt take away from people reading the book, and instead inspires people to get the magic from the book as well.

“So, I guess we are who we are for alot 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.” - The Perks Of Being A Wallflower

(I would just like to point out that choosing only one quote to put at the end of this was a difficult decision, because I think that the entire book has a way of taking words and turning them into statements that sum up the entire feelings that I often experience)