The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (cover photo from Amazon.com)Bibliography: Chbosky, S. (1999). The perks of being a wallflower. New York: MTV Books. ISBN: 978-0671027346
SUMMARY
Charlie is an awkward, shy guy. He has trouble making friends, his family isn't very communicative and he doesn't always understand himself. In a serious to letters to an unnamed "Friend," Charlie writes about his life. He starts high school, meets a new group of friends, falls in love, tries drugs and becomes sexually active for the first time, and realizes how the past has shaped him into who he is now. It's a coming of age book about participation vs. passivity, shyness vs. being social, and it captures the tenuous, emotionally charged high school years.
MY IMPRESSIONS
This book ties for my favorite of the semester. I really related to Charlie and his awkward separateness from his peers as a high school freshman. But he had a wisdom that I never had, a mature understanding of people that came from observing them so carefully from the sidelines. The writing sounds like a teenage boy, albeit a smart, introverted one. Life revolves around friends, music and parties, and at this age, things are so vivid, tragic and ripe with possibilities. Chbosky gives his readers the pleasure of complex characters, especially with Charlie. While Charlie is frustrating and embarrassing and sympathetic, he's also vulnerable and funny. The book moves from the mundane to the profound from page to page, and its messages sink deep into the reader's mind long after the book is finished.
The letters lay Charlie bare, even more than a journal entry would, and reveal how confused and alone he feels sometimes. Like this, from page 139: "I just wish that God or my parents or Sam or my sister or someone would just tell me what's wrong with me. Just tell me how to be different in a way that makes sense. To make this all go away. And disappear. I know that's wrong because it's my responsibility, and I know that things get worse before they get better because that's what my psychiatrist says, but this is a worse that feels too big."
Or like this one, when Charlie spends the day at the mall, observing people (from p. 144): "I saw other people there. Old men sitting alone. Young girls with blue eye shadow and awkward jaws. Little kids who looked tired. Fathers in nice coats who looked even more tired. Kids working behind the counters of the food places who looked like they hadn't had the will to live for hours. The machines kept opening and closing. The people kept giving money and getting their change. And it all felt unsettling to me. So, I decided to find another place to go and figure out why people go there. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of places like that. I don't know how much longer I can keep going without a friend. I used to be able to do it very easily, but that was before I knew what having a friend was like. It's much easier not to know things sometimes."
The Perks of Being a Wallflower isn't for everyone. I think that readers who focus on action and plot over character development would be put off by the overly earnest and angsty navel-gazing that Charlie writes about. Fans of The Catcher in the Rye might find it too derivative. I also can understand why this book was challenged. It contains pretty much every controversial theme in literary fiction: suicide, sex, drugs, rape, incest, abortion, violence, language, homosexuality, masturbation, death and mental illness. But it includes these themes in a real-world way. Teens like Charlie deal with such heavy topics all the time, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a reminder to readers that yes, life is complicated, difficult and messy, but life can also focus on hope, compassion and growth.
ACTIVITIES
This book would be appropriate for a discussion with grades 9 to 12, especially due to the adult themes.
Pretend you are the "Friend" who has been receiving Charlie's letters. Write a response letter to him. What would you say to him? How did his letters make you feel?
Charlie talks a lot about music and how it can shape or enhance his experiences. Create a mix CD of your favorite songs. Why did you pick these songs? What do they mean to you?
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REVIEWS
"In his letters to a never-identified person, 15-year-old Charlie's freshman high school year and coming of age ring fresh and true. Chbosky captures adolescent angst, confusion and joy as Charlie reveals his innermost thoughts while trying to discover who he is and whom is he to become. Eventually, he discovers that to be a whole person who knows how to be a real friend rather than a patsy, he must confront his past--and remember what his beloved, deceased Aunt Helen did to him."
Booklist, February 15, 1999
"In a voice that is both naive and omniscient, [Charlie] records the tragic and mundane events in the lives of his friends and family, using a series of remarkable letters addressed to his 'dear friend.' I would recommend this coming of age story to readers who enjoyed Catcher in the Rye."
Voice of Youth Advocates, December 1, 1999
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