My Rating: ★★★★ (4.3/5 stars)
WARNING: May Contain spoilers
Dear Friend,
Have you ever felt confused? Or, like, you have a hard time explaining things to people, telling them how you feel and then you say it in a wrong way so you have no idea how to take it back or how to fix it, so it makes you feel like you’re doing something wrong? Or have you ever felt lonely, so lonely that you just want to break everything around you just so all the noise can fill out the deafening silence that is surrounding you? Have you ever experienced having fear of the things will happen when you do something you are not sure about, because you know that you tend to unintentionally screw things up? I’m sure you have. We all have. Most of us went through this at our times in High School. Even before and/or after high school. We can never doubt the fact that this kind of feeling cannot be fully avoided.
Quote:
“I can’t think again. Not ever again. I don’t know if you’ve ever felt like that. That you wanted to sleep for a thousand years. Or just not exist. Or just not be aware that you do exist. Or something like that. I think wanting that is very morbid, but I want it when I get like this. That’s why I’m trying not to think. I just want it all to stop spinning.”
The Plot: Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative voice in contemporary fiction: The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This is the story of what it’s like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie’s letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up.
Let me just say that if you happen to pass by this book in that bookstore you go to every week, and you read the blurb at the back and you start to think that this book is for teenagers who have a hard time in life or simply because they want a book to read that they can relate to, please do not continue on that thought. This book is very much for adults as well. This book isn’t about a simple boy-next-door teenager who goes through the normal problems about his friends, or his girlfriend or his school life. No. This book, how I saw it, is about friendship, and love. No, not the love that Romeo and Juliet, Ron and Hermione, Bella and Edward have. The love I’m talking about is the feeling you have for the people who care about you. For those who will never leave your side, or the feelings you have for those who saved your life from confusion, depression, sadness, and hardships.
Chbosky has put the story into Charlie’s point of view. Only, it is very different from the books with a 1st person P.O.V. (Like The Hunger Games, Beastly, Cirque Du Freak, etc.). Chbosky put the idea of formatting the book by—instead of separating it with different chapters—making it look like the main character, Charlie, has written letters to a certain diary-like receiver whom he calls ‘friend.’ He writes about what happens in his school, his home, adding a touch of emotion to the day, people, or things he talks about. As I read through Chboksy’s writing, I saw that teens like me can be as oblivious to his surroundings as Charlie. Charlie is 15 and yet he didn’t know about masturbation until he met Patrick. He had no idea what it felt like to actually be in love with someone until he met Sam. He didn’t know the pleasure of BEING LOVED until he met Mary Elizabeth.
Maybe, we too are oblivious. In a different way than Charlie’s. Maybe one of our friends is just like Charlie. Confused. Misunderstood. Unaware. Lost. Maybe, all of this is what lays underneath their layer of happiness and laughter. This isn’t a “maybe” anymore, but surely, we meet these people for a reason. We meet them, we get to know them, we understand them…and then we help them. But we don’t meet them only because of that. We help them, and they help us too. They help us get back to the right path that we never really knew we were on. And we do the same for them.
Quote:
“We accept the love we think we deserve.”
For fans of Flipped, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, books by John Green, and the Catcher in The Rye. This will surely be on your ‘favorites’ shelf.
Happy Reading!
Love always,
- Janiall x
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