The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Hardcover - USA - 1st edition.

Author Stephen Chbosky Published 1999-02-?? Type Fiction Genre Drama Themes Coming of age, Friendship, LGBT, School, Teen Age Group Teen

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a young adult novel written by Stephen Chbosky and published in February 1999. It's content has caused it to be one of the most challenged books in the USA.

The book describes the life of a very introverted and overly-sensitive 15-year-old boy named Charlie through the letters he writes to a pen pal. He describes his friends, particularly two older teens who take a liking to him, his family and school, the music he listens to, the books he reads, the social events he goes to, and his introduction into the larger world of relationships, sex, and drug use.

The book was adapted into a film in 2012. The story followed the same plot, but it left out a lot of content, as movies tend to do, but it also made some significant changes to Charlie's character. He's not nearly as sensitive or awkward, he's more confident, and the actor who played him was too old and big.

Personal

Own?	No.
Read?	Yes. Audiobook read by Noah Galvin.
Finished	2024-03-28.

I learned about the existence of the book when it was turned into a film, and, only then because it starred Emma Watson. I still made no attempt to watch or read it at the time, however, after seeing the book on a list of challenged books, I finally decided to read it.

Review

Overall:

Good

• The book presents the rebellious world of older teenagers as seen through the eyes of a late-blooming neurodivergent 15-year-old boy. This is well-executed and results in a lot of funny and thought-provoking moments. I particularly like that Charlie is befriended by two older teens who help guide him through his life and expose him to things he was too afraid to do on his own.
• The book deals with a lot of heavy issues like date rape, abortion, LGBT-hate, physical abuse, sexual abuse, drug use, and the like. For the most part, it doesn't glamorize these issues, and instead talks about coping mechanisms for how to deal with them.
• The main characters, Charlie, Sam, and Patrick, and even the ancillary characters, all have their own motives, desires, and narratives. This makes them much more believable.
• I love that Sam tells Charlie that he has to live for himself and do what he wants, even if he knows other people might not like him for being himself, those who really care about him will still accept that, even if they don't agree with him.
• I like the various references to books, music, and film. I was familiar with most of them, and the others I treated as suggestions from the author. I especially liked the inclusion of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Bad

• It was a nice addition to have Charlie start mimicking Holden's idiosyncratic "it really does" phrase after he read The Catcher in the Rye, but it only reminded me how annoying it is.
• I don't really like books which use an epistolary format. The lack of an actual recipient (though not necessary) made it even more annoying to me.

Ugly

• Near the end, Charlie suddenly "remembers" that he was sexually assaulted by his aunt. This is a misguided and dangerous plot device because it perpetuates the largely discredited notion of repressed memories. In reality, most traumatic events are embedded very clearly into our memory.

Media

Covers

• 

  Hardcover - USA - 1st edition
  
  Although I love use of chartreuse, I find this graphic layout quite dull.

Representation

Strong female character?	Pass	Sam is strong and grows throughout the book.
Bechdel test?	Fail	While there are several female characters with dialogue, and it's mentioned that they talk to each other, there are almost no occasions where they actually talk.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	I don't remember any people of color in the book.
Queer character?	Pass	Patrick and Brad are gay, as is the sports newscaster.

The books uses the racial slurs "gyp" (the user doesn't know it's a slur) and "colored" (the user definitely knows it's a slur).

Quotes

• We accept the love we think we deserve.
• You can't just sit their and put everybody's lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love.
• So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be.
• I think that if I ever have kids, and they are upset, I won't tell them that people are starving in China or anything like that because it wouldn't change the fact that they were upset. And even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn't really change the fact that you have what you have.
• It's just that I don't want to be somebody's crush. If somebody likes me, I want them to like the real me, not what they think I am. And I don't want them to carry it around inside. I want them to show me, so I can feel it too. I want them to be able to do whatever they want around me.
• And all the books you've read have been read by other people. And all the songs you've loved have been heard by other people. And that girl that's pretty to you is pretty to other people. and that if you looked at these facts when you were happy, you would feel great because you are describing "unity."
• "He's my whole world." "Don't ever say that about anyone again. Not even me."

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