The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stehpen Chbosky [book]
Publisher: Simon and Schuster, 1999Length: 224 pages
ISBN: 0671027344
Plot Summary:
Charlie is starting high school in the beginning and has issues with a death of a friend, which make him even more of a wallflower. Charlie comes from a somewhat stable family, with the exception of his Aunt, which you learn in the story molested him when he was younger causing him to be quiet and internalize his problems in life. He makes friends in the story with Sam (a girl) and Patrick in school and they form a group in which Charlie eventually dates a girl he is not really interested in, Patrick has a relationship with a male football player, and Charlie has an ongoing love for Sam. Sam encourages Charlie to come out of his box and talk and speak his mind, as well as live life with the rest of them. There are parties, drugs, and alcohol all involved in these high school experiences, and Charlie deals with also driving his sister to an abortion and being kissed by Patrick. In the end Charlie has a hard time dealing with his realization that he was molested by his aunt and has trouble being able to deal with it. He at least comes to have hope that he will be okay and will participate in life.
Critical Evaluation:
This book is written from Charlie's perspective and I think I would believe that a teenage boy wrote diary entries like this because of the way he describes people and things very short and to the point, while only elaborating on key points that he finds interesting. I found it interesting that the only person in the novel that Charlie names in his family is his Aunt, and then he comes to realization of what happened to him through his repressed memories. The themes of this book are positive for the most part with the chance of recovery in the end, and with the idea that life is for participators. There are definitely dark parts of the book, but I think that they are counterbalanced by love and friendship themes and of acceptance.
Reader's Annotation:
Charlie is trying to get through high school and navigate life while participating with the people around him through life's struggles and triumphs.
Websites to look Into:
http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Stephen-Chbosky/1843916
http://pages.simonandschuster.com/perksofbeingawallflower
The Author:
Chbosky says that this novel was semi- autobiographical in that he related to Charlie's character a lot, but said that his high school life was very different than in the book. He also wrote the screenplay and directed the movie that came out about the book.
Awards:
Bluegrass Award
Garden State Teen Book Award
Volunteer State Book Award
Similar Books:"It's Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini
"Looking for Alaska" by John Green
"The Realm of Possibility" by David Levithan
Booktalking Ideas:
Being an outsider in society
Dealing with the things that happen in life straight on
Genre:
Fiction, Sexuality
Interest Age:
15+
Challenge Issues:
Sexuality
This book deals with homosexuality, abortion, and molestation. It is a coming of age novel and I would combat this with the fact that these are things that people deal with in life and the novel presents this and confronts it straight on which they should be.
Why this Book?
I chose this book because it is a good coming of age novels (especially for boys) and because the movie was just made about it, so I thought that it would be good to have the original present to keep people informed that it was a book before a movie after all.
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