The Perks of Being a Wallflower in All Challenges All The Time

Jun 19, 2011 Rabbit {Paint me like one of your 19th century gothic heroines!} rated it it was amazing

Shelves: present-day, five-stars, dark, fiction, epicly-awesome, glbt, romance, young-adult

This was a humorous, but dark read. I really enjoyed it. The narrator reminds me of a good friend of mine. I shall have to recommend him this book.

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Aug 31, 2011 Elle rated it liked it

Quirky book about teenage life. I wanted to like this more than I did, but...honestly...it was just weird. Not bad, not wonderful...just hanging out in the middle. For the full review: http://erraticprojectjunkie.blogspot.... ...more

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Jul 16, 2013 Jennifer rated it it was ok

Enjoyed this one WAYYYYY less than the first time I read it.

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Aug 13, 2012 Marla rated it it was ok

Shelves: with-reservations, romance, award-winner, lgbt, overrated, zz-team-2013-challenge-wild-blue-d, zz-2013, new-adult, buddy

Charlie is weird, slow and very observant. He seems dysfunctional and we learn about his life through his letters to an anonymous reader. Book is very slow in places and just a bleak view of teenage life. I had to read a few pages at a time, because I got tired of the strange voice and depressing situations. I think the target audience is misfit teens and it just was not my kind of book.

Charlie's friends initially seemed like good friends to him, but as the book progressed, they became worse and Charlie is weird, slow and very observant. He seems dysfunctional and we learn about his life through his letters to an anonymous reader. Book is very slow in places and just a bleak view of teenage life. I had to read a few pages at a time, because I got tired of the strange voice and depressing situations. I think the target audience is misfit teens and it just was not my kind of book.

Charlie's friends initially seemed like good friends to him, but as the book progressed, they became worse and worse influences.

Likes:
* Patrick's original nickname, Nothing
(view spoiler)

Dislikes:
* Charlie crying all the time
(view spoiler)

With reservations:
swearing, suicide, fighting, sex, drugs, drinking, sexual situations, child molestation, smoking, more drugs, depression, (view spoiler) violence

YA Buddy Readers' Corner Guided Buddy Read ...more

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Nov 05, 2012 Malin rated it liked it · review of another edition

Charlie starts high school after an extended stay in therapy because his best friend committed suicide the year before. His brother was the star quarterback, but is now in college on a sports scholarship. His older sister pretty much ignores him, and Charlie is more or less a social pariah, until he befriends the outgoing and charming Patrick, and his stepsister Sam, who are both seniors. They find Charlie's bluntness and awkwardness endearing, take him under their wing and introduce him to thei ...more

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Jun 04, 2014 Jirrine rated it liked it · review of another edition

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Charlie is a wallflower. He does not participate in life. He has been like that ever since his Aunt died. He is the boy on the sidelines. Then one day he just decided to walk up to Patrick and Sam. The three of them become the most beautiful friends. That part of the book I really liked. Charlie cares deeply for his friends, especially Sam, whom he is (not so secretly) crushing on. Their relationship is natural. They are there for each other when the More reviews on www.jirrinereads.wordpress.com

Charlie is a wallflower. He does not participate in life. He has been like that ever since his Aunt died. He is the boy on the sidelines. Then one day he just decided to walk up to Patrick and Sam. The three of them become the most beautiful friends. That part of the book I really liked. Charlie cares deeply for his friends, especially Sam, whom he is (not so secretly) crushing on. Their relationship is natural. They are there for each other when they need to be but know when to give space as well. Charlie finally learns that there is more to life that just being

That is the mean message I got from this book. There is just so much more to life that going with the flow and doing what is expected of you. By deciding your own direction, so many beautiful things can happen. Bit by bit, Charlie blossoms and becomes his own person. There is, however, always a little something that holds him back. The moment he reached complete happiness, there is always the fall. Then he goes to a place where no one can reach him. For me this is where the trouble started. I just can’t understand why exactly he does not allow himself to be happy. It might be somewhere in the book, somewhere between the lines and I just didn’t catch it but still, there was no ‘ahah’ moment at the end of the book. No big reveal which would clear up some of the unexplained thing.

This book is in letter form, letters Charlie has been writing to an anonymous friend. This friend never writes back (at least not that I know of) and it never becomes clear who this person actually is. I find it kind of weird that Charlie pours his heart out to this stranger by writing letter after letter, but I seems to help him. I really wanted to know who this person was. It think that hints to the bigger problem I have with this book. There were just too many mysteries left to solve and I don’t like when books do that.

I also found it a bit unrealistic that all of his friends were so much older than him (15 versus 18). I know I doesn’t seem a lot now, but certainly in High School there is a big difference in maturity. I do believe that Charlie was mature enough to be Sam and Patrick’s friend. I do however, not think that he would be so readily accepted by seniors. Especially because he is really shy and awkward at times. That makes Charlie a really likeable person and Sam and Patrick very good friends but it’s a friendship that only happens to one in a million. Which could of course make it all the more beautiful ;)!

The reason I give this book 3 stars is because I really, really like the friendship part. It left me with too many questions to really be satisfied when I was done. And despite liking Charlie a lot, it just couldn’t get swept away. Despite it being only a 230 page book, it took me 4 days to read. Normally I would blaze through in 2 days max. I haven’t seen the movie yet, so that is next on my to do list. I hope things get a little clearer then. ...more

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