Book Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky

Dear Friend,

I just finished this incredible book - maybe you've heard of it? It's called The Perks of Being a Wallflower. In case you don't know it, it's a wonderful book about a high school kid named Charlie trying to figure out how to fit in and make friends and "participate." He's really always been more of a watcher -- a wallflower, if you will -- than a participant, but then he makes a few friends and his whole world opens up.

I really wish this was a book I'd read in high school, because as much as I loved it now (and that was a lot), I think it would be have been even more poignant when I was younger. Charlie learns all these great things about friends and relationships and sex and drinking and drugs and cigarettes and being true to himself that are important now, even with high school nearly a decade behind me, but would have been even more important then.

I don't know if you know about Charlie, but he's the kind of kid that sometimes makes you want to cry because he can be so naive, so pure, so simple, and so kind all at once. But this can also be his greatest downfall, because sometimes he gets lost in the process, and you just want to shout, "Charlie! Wake up! Don't you see what's happening here?"

Of course you can't, because it's just a book. But is anything really "just a book," after all? I don't think Charlie would think so, and I don't think so, either.

Love always,
Kerry

P.S. Incidentally, if you do decide to read this one, the audio is great. Charlie becomes very real when he reads his letters to you, in a way he might not if only written.

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The Perks of Being a Wallflower | Stephen Chbosky, nar. Johnny Heller | Recorded Books | 6 hours, 22 min |  Buy from an independent near you