The Perks of Being a Wallflower in Queereaders

Sep 14, 2009 treehugger rated it it was ok

Shelves: classics, read_2009, young_adult, popular_lit, coming-of-age

Oh sigh, this book was REALLY reminiscent of Catcher in the Rye, which, despite the author's awesome last name, is really one of my least favorite classics of all time.

Was the kid in this book autistic or what? and who the hell was he writing to,and why should we as the readers care? Why was he so spacey and weird? Why did he talk like he was 8 sometimes, and 30 sometimes? And why was he 16 and driving as a freshman in high school? And why was he hanging out with seniors in high school? And why ...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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Aug 07, 2013 Jenn rated it it was amazing

I loved this book so much. Beautiful portrait of teen outsider angst with so much heart.

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Mar 15, 2010 Renee rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya

Timeless coming of age story that tackles serious issues–suicide, abuse, abortion, depression, coming out as gay (or not coming out)–with no b.s., yet from the tender, sensitive perspective of our Charlie. Authentic, heartfelt and beautifully expressed. Every young person and every person who remembers what it was like to be a teen should read this!

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