Yesterday I finished reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and I was all together blown away. I haven't read a book so personally heart-wrenching since reading Looking for Alaska my freshman year of high school, and now as I senior I've read The Perks of Being a Wallflower and I must say there's a kind of symmetry to it I'm glad of.
Charlie is a freshman boy in high school, kind of awkward, weirdly violent, notably sensitive, and haunted by the memories of his dead Aunt Helen. Terrified of starting high school Charlie begins to write anonymous letters to a stranger to give him support, there is no return address, no last names, just the intimate feeling of a boy who is probably so different from all of us, yet exactly like everyone else in the extreme loneliness of being human. Carried by "Alseep" by The Smiths, the feeling of being infinite, and the unconventional beauty of Sam and her brother Patrick, Charlie learns to grow. This is a story about being human, about growing up, and discovering how to be a little bit less afraid, a little less sad, and see a little bit more beauty and love in spite of all the fear and all the sadness. As Charlie falls in love with Sam, as well as the literature given to him by his English teacher, he learns to feel infinite in a world where sad and bad things happen, but people have to courage to keep moving forward, even when sometimes they don't.
I don't really know how to write about The Perks of Being a Wallflower in the same way I didn't know how to write about Looking for Alaska my freshman year. The feeling books like that give you is so deep and so personal, it almost feels wrong to write about it. I don't do drugs, or drink, or go to parties, or have a sister who got hit by her boyfriend, but despite that you end up feeling like Charlie when you read the book. Because I've cried in a panicky way where I don't know how to breath and everything is moving, and I've lost someone to suicide that I should have known better, and I've fallen in love, made friends I love, and have felt infinite in my smallness. I think that's all it makes sense to say. But I'm listening to "Asleep" by The Smiths.
Total Pages: 213
Number of Flying Platypus Tea Cups: 10/10
This book is so incredibly amazing, and so heart wrenching. I've read it four or five times, and I still don't even know how to really write about it. I agree that it is a lot like Looking for Alaska in how emotional it is. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is truly an incredibly amazing and relatable book.
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