The Perks of Being a Wallflower in readers advisory for all

Apr 09, 2007 karen rated it it was ok

Shelves: and-so-this-is-grad-school, books-everyone-loves-but-me

teens seem to love this book.

come to my blog! ...more

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Dec 20, 2010 Kinga rated it liked it

Shelves: pub-1999

If I have one regret about my reading life it’s that I didn’t read this book in 2000.

I was a teenager. I just moved to the US all by myself and was about to attend American High School for a year. My life was a mess and I wanted to start anew. Nothing prepared for what I was about to experience and I did all the wrong things and went the wrong way about the whole thing. If I had only read this book back then maybe I would've gotten my priorities right.

Also it is written in such a simple languag If I have one regret about my reading life it’s that I didn’t read this book in 2000.

I was a teenager. I just moved to the US all by myself and was about to attend American High School for a year. My life was a mess and I wanted to start anew. Nothing prepared for what I was about to experience and I did all the wrong things and went the wrong way about the whole thing. If I had only read this book back then maybe I would've gotten my priorities right.

Also it is written in such a simple language that my teenage self wouldn’t struggle with it. It would give me the courage to explore more. As it was, I started reading in English with some big complicated book that made me dizzy and I eventually abandoned it.

It was 2000! This book was huge then, I believe. I went to a bookshop and asked someone there to recommend me a book. I explained I came to the US, just started American High School, that I felt very lonely and that books made me happy. Why the idiot working there didn’t just give me ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’, I will never know but I hope he got sacked eventually. Mind you, I wasn’t somewhere along the Bible belt, where he might've been worried of causing scandal by giving me this book. It was New Hampshire! Live free or die!

Of course, reading it now, in 2012, when I’m a seemingly well-adjusted adult living in London and not afraid of tackling even the most complex books in English, was not exactly a mind-blowing experience. I still felt the power and allure it would've had for me if I read it at a right time but could also see it for what it was – bit of a naïve coming of age story written in a language that was too simple if it was supposed to belong to Charlie - the English class prodigy. There was a lot of: “I was sad. I cried. I was happy. I cried. And then I just cried for no reason.”

But you know what, there is one lesson in it that you should remember. Friends are important. And the friends you make when you’re young are usually the friends you keep for life. So choose wise.
And also here is a note for half of the people on the internets: Charlie was NOT autistic. I know people tend to call ‘autistic’ anything they consider weird but Charlie was the opposite of autistic. Autism is not characterized by higher than normal appreciation of literature or being oversensitive to people’s feelings and super-perceptive when it comes to emotions. People, autism is more or less the opposite of that. If you need to give Charlie a label, make it PTSD and stop embarrassing yourselves.
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Jun 25, 2013 Kerry Dunn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-in-2013, page-turners-book-club

I admit it. I saw the movie first. I really liked the film. As someone who went to high school from 1990 to 1994, someone who discovered The Smiths in 9th grade and never looked back, someone who as a freshman made a lot of older friends who changed my perspective on many, many things, the film spoke to me in a MAJOR way.

I still really like the film, but as is often the case, the book is better. I love Charlie. And I think calling him Holden Caulfield-esque is dismissive. Any coming of age novel ...more

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Feb 16, 2009 Claire rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, teen

I like how the plot played out in this book - little by little using enough to keep you intrigued but never hitting you over the head with things. I also liked how not everything Charlie did had repercussions, and his parents seemed unique and believable. Not sure I loved the letter format though - his point of view was necessary, but I kept expecting the letters to reveal themselves as going to someone in partcular (even though it tells you from the very beginning that the person doesn't know C ...more

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Feb 09, 2013 Audrey rated it liked it

Shelves: jf-ya

Poignant coming-of-age, simply written although perhaps a bit after-school special. Some readers may balk at the narrator's limited working vocabulary. ...more

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Jul 30, 2007 Bill Doughty rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, all-time-favorites, favorites

My pick for the best coming of age novel ever. Or certainly my favorite, anyway. I could never really relate to Holden Caulfield... in fact, I wanted to punch him repeatedly in the throat. But I saw and relived some of my own experiences in those of Charlie here. I felt for him, I pitied him, I envied him, I cheered for him, and I worried about him. I've re-read this maybe 4 or 5 times over the years, and it still holds up. Just brilliant work. Too bad Stephen Chbosky seems to have left for tele ...more

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May 10, 2013 Genna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: film-adaptation, library-school, young-adult, realistic, romance, multicultural, bildungsroman, glbtq

What a great story - the perfect representation of a sensitive male teen growing up. A must-read for adults and teens. And the movie is just plain amazing and beautiful.

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