The Perks of Being a Wallflower
by Stephen Chbosky
What is most notable about this funny, touching, memorable first novel from Stephen Chbosky is the resounding accuracy with which the author captures the voice of a boy teetering on the brink of adulthood. Charlie is a freshman. And while's he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. He's a wallflower--shy and introspective, and intelligent beyond his years, if not very savvy in the social arts. We learn about Charlie through the letters he writes to someone of undisclosed name, age, and gender, a stylistic technique that adds to the heart-wrenching earnestness saturating this teen's story. Charlie encounters the same struggles that many kids face in high school--how to make friends, the intensity of a crush, family tensions, a first relationship, exploring sexuality, experimenting with drugs--but he must also deal with his best friend's recent suicide. Charlie's letters take on the intimate feel of a journal as he shares his day-to-day thoughts and feelings:
I walk around the school hallways and look at the people. I look at the teachers and wonder why they're here. If they like their jobs. Or us. And I wonder how smart they were when they were fifteen. Not in a mean way. In a curious way. It's like looking at all the students and wondering who's had their heart broken that day, and how they are able to cope with having three quizzes and a book report due on top of that. Or wondering who did the heart breaking. And wondering why.With the help of a teacher who recognizes his wisdom and intuition, and his two friends, seniors Samantha and Patrick, Charlie mostly manages to avoid the depression he feels creeping up like kudzu. When it all becomes too much, after a shocking realization about his beloved late Aunt Helen, Charlie retreats from reality for awhile. But he makes it back in due time, ready to face his sophomore year and all that it may bring. Charlie, sincerely searching for that feeling of "being infinite," is a kindred spirit to the generation that's been slapped with the label X. --Brangien Davis
Book Club Questions for The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Fiction)
Book Club Questions for The Perks of Being a Wallflower (for Non-Fiction)
This book has truely become an amazing part of my life. And not just because it really is a great book, a life-affirming book.
The first time I read it was in high school, a very awkward, self-hating stage for many of us and I wasn’t left out of that. And I bought ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ because it was lime green and the blurb on the back seemed like it might be a bit cheesy and I would enjoy it. I was wrong about the being cheesy part-but not about me loving it, and not just becuse I love things that are lime green.
I had never read anything that felt like it was for me. The thoughts in my head were there on a page, written my someone else. I felt validated. I felt okay-perhaps wonderful for the first time in a long time. I read it and kept how it made me feel, and put the book next to my bed.
Monthes later-a close friend attempted suicide. And he wasn’t allowed any visitors, letters or phone calls, but I was able to talk a teacher of ours to sneak him a copy of ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ that I had written a note to him in it, including my phone number. When he was able to come home, he called me. Crying, he told me that the book and my note were the only things that made him want to live. He thanked me, and I never saw him again as his parents sent him to a different school.
Two years later, I got a phone call from a stranger. She told me she was a friend of a friend, and had received a book from him after a suicide attempt. She had read the note I had left in the book, and just wanted to thank me for caring about him, and in turn her.
Nearly a year later, I got another such phone call, and the year after that another…and in years since they have tapered off but every so often my parents get a phone call asking for me, and then a brief explanation about a book they were given….
