The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky

Genre: YA Coming of Age

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After watching the movie countless times and falling in love with it differently each and every time, I finally read the book. And I fell in love in a completely different way then the movie, and I have to say that everyone should read this book at some point in their life.

I loved the format of this book, how it was a compilation of letters like a diary and we actually got to see how Charlie thinks. Chbosky shows how Charlie’s mind would wander off as he kept asking why and I loved that. And Charlie’s thoughts were so insightful and relatable, as if I was thinking them myself. I actually think I relate to Charlie the most out of all the literary characters I have read about. He was sad and happy and he saw the pain in others and knew how to help them. He understands that people deal with pain differently and just because there are starving kids in china that doesn’t change the fact that people are upset. I am always telling people that, and I loved how Charlie was so accepting, just like I try to be.

Also, I loved how the book showed growth. In the beginning, Charlie seemed so immature and he cried a lot for reasons I didn’t understand, but as the story went on his voice, writing, and character really started to mature and evolve in more ways than one.

Last but not least, I just loved the story. It was so incredibly heartbreaking and appalling, but somehow Charlie managed to see a silver lining and he made it seem like less. There were so many moments where I just wanted to cry, and others when I wanted to smile, and at the end most of all I felt content. I won’t give away the ending, but even though Charlie was messed up, he made the readers and everyone else feel okay, including himself.

Overall 5 stars, completely!