“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” – Stephen Chbosky
I loved this book. It’s a very short piece of fiction (213 pages) written as a collection of letters from a 15 or so year old boy, to someone he only addresses as “Dear friend.” The boy calls himself “Charlie,” telling the addressee that he won’t be using real names. The reason I liked it so much is that it’s written as a 15 year old boy. The language isn’t flowery, unless “Charlie” tells “Dear Friend” that he wishes to employ some of the vocabulary words he learns in english class. USA Today claims the book to be “in the tradition of ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ and ‘A Separate Peace,’” but the former bored me into annoyance (though I may try to read it again) and the latter was too prep school. It’s set in the early nineties, which I easily identify with, as I was almost the same age as “Charlie” at that time. “Charlie” speaks of his standing out, being weird, his emotionally distant family, his gay friend, his first love, the zine he helps publish, Rocky Horror Picture Show… And to be fair, I liked the book before I learned that it was published by MTV Books. I know right; who knew?
I really can’t do the book justice, and this is my first review, so cut me some slack. Check out Amazon and read the excerpts.
I give it four out of five stars, and my ratings are judged as follows:
1 – SUCK!
2 – I guess I should at least finish it…
3 – I kinda liked this one.
4 – Love it!
5 – One of my favorites of all time.