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

Apr 19, 2013 Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantastic-hero, great-side-characters, 5-stars, made-me-ugly-cry, for-a-challenge, young-adult, all-of-the-feels, stand-alone, re-read, contemporary

"Even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there."

Orignial Rating: ★★★★★
Read April 2013
Rating after re-read: ★★★★★
Re-read September 10, 2019

*Review after re-read:
I'm sick in bed today, stuffy nose and all and I decided to make myself feel worse by re-reading this book knowing that I was just going to be a sobbing mess by the end. I was correct, I did sob and now I'm having even more trouble breathing through my nose and my head is thro ...more

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Dec 05, 2012 Labyrinth Rossiter rated it liked it

Shelves: read-in-2012, fiction, young-adult, nerds, made-into-film

Charlie's descriptions of "unreality" and thinking too much hit a little too close to home. The book treated some sensitive subjects with dignity, but it was a little too angsty. As a person who "thinks too much" herself, I didn't like being in Charlie's head, and I was glad for this book to end. ...more

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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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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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Jan 08, 2013 Brenna rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, 2013-book-challenge, a-z-reading-challenge, owned-books

I really enjoyed this book, because it's very unique and emotional. I like how this book tackles big issues that teens deal with behind closed doors; it made relating to Charlie very easy. The ending is optimistic; which made me feel hopeful about my own life. "... please believe that things are good with me, and even when they're not, they will be soon enough." I think the best thing about this book is that Stephen Chbosky was able to put words to feelings that I wasn't able to describe before. ...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Sapir rated it really liked it

Shelves: realistic-fiction, what-an-ending

I skimmed through this after watching the movie.
I liked the movie much better. It was the best movie I've ever seen. Recommended to everyone!!! ...more

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