Perks of being a wallflower Paperback – February 2, 2009

In the story, Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky published in 1999 by MTV Books, the main character Charlie lives life in highschool. In the beginning of the story, he was considered a loser. He had one friend until he died and then he was alone. When he started 9th grade, he met some new friends. Sam and Patrick. Charlie though that Sam was beautiful and that he loved her even though she was dating an older guy named Craig. Patrick had an on and off relationship with the quarterback of the football team. Sam and Patrick would skip classes with their friends and go smoke. Charlie would stand with them and talk and eventually he started smoking.Charlie met new friends when he went to parties. At these parties, people would smoke and drink and do drugs. Charlie did too.One girl asked him to a dance and he said yes. It was Mary Elizabeth. They went to the dance and then they started dating. They would hang out a lot and buy each other gifts.Throughout the story, charlie talks about his aunt Helen and how she would let them watch tv late at night. When his birthday comes around, he is very sad because his birthday is the day that she died and he missed her. He gets very depressed and drives to her grave and cries there. He missed her a lot because she was a nice loving person but she was gone.Charlie also has a sister and an older brother. His brother is off in college playing football. His sister is in highschool too. She had a boyfriend in the beginning of the book and Charlie saw him hit her. And she didn't do anything. Charlie wasn't allowed to tell his parents but he did end up telling a teacher who called their parents. She has other boyfriends that Charlie sees and talks about.The real end to this story is when Charlie's sister, and Patrick and Sam graduate and go off to college.I loved this book. It's about this weird kid in high school and its very funny. It is also very relatable. Many kids could connect to this, whether its about friendships or romantic relationships or family problems. Almost any problem that a teenager could have is in this book. And Charlie has those problems but he lived through it. This book may however not be appropriate for younger kids. It is not difficult to read, but there are some inappropriate things in the book.The book is set up as letters to an unknown person (the reader) and from Charlie. This is a rather unusual way of writing a story but this book has no plot. Nothing happens. There is no storyline. Charlie is just living his life and explaining it in these letters. There is also no known reason why he writes to this person. The book is easy to follow and fun to read.Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I think many people would love reading it. It's interesting and it's as if a teen boy actually wrote it.

I enjoyed this book immensely. I found it compelling, sweet, interesting, well-written, and an overall great book. It deals with hard topics that aren't commonly written about, and it deals with them in a very realistic way.The protagonist is a young man named Charlie. He is beginning high school, while his brother begins his freshman year in college, and his sister begins her senior year in high school. Charlie starts off by addressing you, the reader, in a letter, as "Dear Friend". It is uncommon to find books written in the form of letters, and is not my absolute favourite way of writing to read. However, Chbosky wrote these letters in a clear way that didn't distract from the novel at all.Charlie tells you of his only friend, Max, who had committed suicide the previous year. I enjoyed how the book jumped straight into a difficult topic for many readers. The book continues on to show how Charlie had reacted to the news, and it explains a fair amount about how Charlie acts in the present.Charlie is a wallflower- that is, he observes the people around him. That is the majority of his high school career for a while, before he meets "Nothing"- Patrick- and Sam, who are half siblings. Both have had a difficult time, and are in their senior year of high school. They take Charlie under the wing, and introduce him to their other friends, whom he gets to know quite well over the course of the story.As the novel continues on, Charlie describes his family, the problems within them, in a almost childlike manner. He talks to his English teacher frequently, who gives him books to read and some excellent advice.I found one of the biggest themes in the story to be how people accept the love that they believe they deserve. Those that believe themselves to not be worth much at all, that believe that don't really "deserve" someone sweet and kind to love them, most often will not date sweet and kind people. People who don't believe they're families love them for who they are will have a hard time accepting any time of help or condolences or anything similar from their family.The novel goes through several difficult topics for a diverse selection of people, dealing with topics such as child abuse, domestic abuse, suicide, and homosexuality. It handles each situation in a realistic manner, with care, and with almost childlike innocence from the eyes of Charlie.I recommend this book to teens, young adults, and adults alike. I do, however, warn against having younger or more innocent readers from reading this. Teens that don't have an accurate sense of the difficulties in the world would most likely find this book boring, or dislike the themes and discussions within its pages. I do believe that you should read this book at some point in your life, as it is truly an amazing read.