Book Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower 

This week’s book is The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.  This title may seem very familiar to you as this was also a major motion picture in 2012.

This book is a cult classic and many people, especially young adults and teens, may be familiar with it.  Personally, I just saw it laying on a table at Barnes and Noble and decided to pick it up on a whim, and I am glad I did.

Some people hate this book.  Some people love this book.  Some people feel this book is their personal anthem.

Personally, I loved this book.  The writing is wonderful as it is written completed through a series of letters from the main character Charlie to an anonymous individual.  Chbosky’s use of language draws in the reader and keeps them engaged in this unique form of communication.

The story follows the life of Charlie as he navigates his first year of high school.  It touches on themes of depression, suicide, drug use, sexual relations, and various forms of abuse.  So, basically, in today’s world, it needs a big trigger warning attached to it.

I’m going to give my own unique style of trigger warning for this book – I want to give a trigger warning for empaths.  I personally think that the main character is an empath and one of his issues is he feels his feelings deeply – sometimes too much so.  With that type of character, those empath readers out there may end up feeling too much themselves while reading this. If you want a good novel that will leave you brooding yourself, pick this one up.

After finishing this novel I also dipped my toes into the movie, wanting to see how that correlated with this book.  The author also wrote the screenplay and directed the movie – so yes, even though it is filled with some famous people – the emotions of the book translate into the film world.  I would recommend watching the movie by yourself with a box of kleenex nearby.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book – you may even say that I loved this book.  The writing is excellent and it will be difficult for me to start the next novel as I feel not much else will compare.