The Perks of Being a Wallflower in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Feb 24, 2016 Gina rated it liked it

I found this book to be a bit depressing and weird at times. It was interesting, as well, though, and I was drawn in right away. Charlie's story is told through a series of letters to a person unknown to us. He has had a traumatic loss, and has struggled to deal with it. He's emotional, awkward, and has trouble making friends. When he eventually meets and befriends two seniors in high school, he has more feelings and experiences than he could possibly imagine. There are a few feel good moments h ...more

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Oct 15, 2014 Sarah rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, lgbt

Initially I didn't think I was going to get on with the writing style of this book, the intentionally stilted and poorly written format of the letters Charlie wrote was frankly a bit annoying. I was curious about the characters and events so I kept going, then was pleasantly surprised by how cleverly the author gradually improved Charlie's writing style as part of the character development from his extra-curricular studies.

A lot of other reviews complain that all the powerful issues in the book ...more

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Oct 28, 2014 Amy rated it liked it

The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. The picture that author Chbosky paints of the protagonist gives little to the imagination that he would be often overlooked. Luckily older friends embrace him and convince him to step out of his shell and live in the moment. As the story progresses, readers begin to get to know the flawed yet fabulous Charlie and root for him to finally let people in and live life. The book is classified as a Young Adult novel but I was actually surprised at th ...more

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Mar 04, 2013 Dara rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction

Wow- maybe I haven't read enough YA fiction in the past 20 years... I was surprised by the depth of issues addressed- alcohol and drug abuse, teen battering and rape, physical and sexual childhood abuse. This book dealt directly and clearly with the impact of abuse on individuals and families across generations and was pretty sensitive about gay issues and coming out in the 90's in American suburbia. While at moments it descended into movie-of-the-week pathos, it generally rose above that and wa ...more

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Feb 08, 2014 Katrina rated it liked it · review of another edition

Wow...I'm not sure what I think yet other than I need to figure out how to keep my kids from getting to high school age. I enjoyed the format of hearing about Charlie's freshman year of high school through the letters he wrote. I was overwhelmed with the many hot button issues addressed in this book and in such a lighthearted manner as if all high schoolers are participating in these activities. While I was intrigued by this book, I would be reluctant to recommend it. ...more

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