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Perks of Being a Wallflower

Perks of Being a Wallflower

List Price: $22.25
Your Price: $18.47
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It Truly Touched Me -- what can I say?
Review: In this day and age when people are so cynical and cruel, it was a pleasure to read a book from the point of view of a genuinely nice person. Charlie is a "wallflower," meaning he stands back timidly watching others live life, afraid to participate. In the course of the novel, we watch Charlie grow: make friends, go to parties, participate, even fall in love -- in other words, come out of his shell. And by the end we discover why Charlie is unable to participate in life until now; we come to understand the source of his pain. I truly loved this book; and I don't care if other people put it down! The chapters are written in letter format, and the writing is smooth and unpretentious. This is definitely the best book I've read since THE LOSERS CLUB by Richard Perez. And I discovered both books on Amazon. Anyway, if you like genuinely beautiful people, I'm sure you'll love the protagonist of this novel. You may even shed a tear for Charlie...bottom line: you'll be moved!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Even better the second time!
Review: I first read The Perks of Being a Wallflower when I was just starting my freshman year of high school. At the time I thought the book was fascinating, exciting and above all else, I could really relate to Charlie. We all feel like wallflowers sometimes in our life and Charlie made me realize that I wasn't alone. When I picked up the book for a second time, as a senior coming towards the end of her last year of high school I was left with a somewhat different.

Charlie is a wallflower. He begins his freshman year of high school very confused. He is friendless, a result of his only friend Michael, committing suicide only the year before. Most people think of him as weird because of his easy ability to cry and the fact that he's so quiet. When he meets two seniors named Sam and Patrick, everything changes. His time as a wallflower is ended and it's finally time for him to step out onto the dance floor. Sam, Patrick, and their other friends begin to integrate him into the real world by exposing him to sex, drugs, rock and role, and the Rocky Picture show. Charlie begins to learn about friendship, sexuality, while learning how to understand his complicated family. Charlie's freshman year is one of the most effective years of his life.

It's strange to read Charlie's story again. I find myself a little surprised at his naivety and vulnerability, something I didn't notice when I was fourteen. It just proves that Charlie acts very much like a freshman in high school, even though he is a bit strange. If you really look at the way the book is written it even sounds a lot like a freshman in high school would sound like. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a touching book about growing up in a difficult time. I suggest reading it if you are like Charlie, a freshman. Read it if you're just a teenager. Read it if you're an adult. No matter how old you are you'll get something out of this powerful short novel. I highly recommend it!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very Rewarding.
Review: I've read this book about three times and each and every time I read it, It always gives me the same feeling but in a different impact. This book is such a good book. It changed my views and opinions on things. Defiantly a good book to read.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Review: I usually pick up books that have to deal with a girl's teenage life. I can always relate to these books and the events a girl goes through as a teenager. My friend, whom I often exchange books with, told me to read The Perks of Being a Wallflower as soon as I can and that I would love it. Well, the next day I picked up a copy and of course started reading it. The one thing that made this book different from other books I have read is that it was from a teenage boy's perspective of high school. This novel is written in letters to an anonymus person of an unknown age and gender. Charlie, the writer of the short letters, is a freshman starting high school. The letters share Charlie's deepest feelings about drugs, girls, mix tapes, and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". Charlie makes his way into a group of friends, whom are all seniors. They all agree that Charlie is a wallflower because he is shy, but has a very high intelligence level for his age. I excitingly turned every page to find out what would happen next to Charlie and the people in his life. I laughed and smiled with Charlie during times of his first kiss and first girlfriend. I also cried with Charlie several times. For example, when he took his sister to the hospital to get an abortion and he was the only one she had told. Charlie never really says why he started to write these letters, but it is clear to the reader that Charlie is a secretive person and it helps him to let out his feelings to someone that won't judge him. Charlie's letters and new life experiences made this book one of the best and fastest I have ever read. I was uanble to put the book down while reading it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A wonderful story on a boy's views of compassion.
Review: This book has forever changed me. The author writes of a boy, who I believe has a mental disability, who encounters so many different things. The book is almost written in diary from which makes it so neat to read. Some of the entries are a little long yet exciting. I'd bet that almost ANY teen would enjoy this book.

Charlie (main character) makes 2 very close friends who mean the world to him. His family has a big part on his life yet he isn't as attached to them as he is Patrick and Sam (the 2 friends). With these 2 companions he is introduced to drugs, sex, and so many different thins. Even though he takes drugs he manages to maintain straight A's and a very beautiful perspective of the world. At a very young age he loses a very close relative to him and it makes his life very complicated.
I love this book so much because I can relate so much to the emotions he experiences -minus the drugs, sex, and alcohol. This boy is such a compassionate and a very beautiful expresser. His feelings of people and things are usually quieted and therefore he doesn't get to express himself to others very much. It isn't fare to him, yet he does it out of what he thinks is love for others.

I would definitely recommend this book to any teen, anyone going through a rough time fitting in, or anyone interested in compassion. I would only recommend this book to people at least 14 and up. It has some very detailed sexually explicit scenes and uses profane words throughout the book. I would recommend it to mature people. It was very wonderful story to read.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dude can read
Review: Dear Reader,

This book is like a good shot of whiskey on a Sunday morning: you need it to get by. You will like this book if you liked Catcher in the Rye or flowers for Algernon or if you are in a Creative Writing course at a four year accredited university. Buy it and then read it that night and call in sick to work the next day and feel great.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Overrated. The main character is unbelievable
Review: So many things about the lead character (Charlie) don't ring true that after a while it's hard to take the author seriously. Charlie is supposed to be a 14 or 15 year old teen, circa the early 1990s. But his tastes (in poetry, in music, etc.) seem to come straight from a 30-something of that era. Chobsky is clearly trying to give hints and suggestions to his teen audience about what's cool -- through the voice of Charlie. But come on. Charlie makes mix tapes of Smiths AND Procul Harem? Gives gifts like "The Mayor of Castro Street" for Xmas to his friends? Laser Floyd shows? The final episode of M*A*S*H? For a social misfit, he's got taste. I'm sorry, but for a purported school misfit, Charlie has an acumen for culture way beyond his years. After a few chapters of this, in sometimes heavy bathos, the book really feels forced. Sort of a compendium of "what you should know and read if you're a teen". Chobsky even includes handy lists of all the songs on the mix tapes so you can do it yourself. I didn't think it deserved the swallowing praise I see in all these other reviews. Wallflower is no Catcher in the Rye...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Sadness is Sadness
Review: "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" is one of the best books I have ever read.

A confessional of a boy named Charlie who does not really fit in. The story covers his freshman year of high school. Charlie is a likable character, with wisdom beyond his age, who seems to teeter on the knife-edge of depression. Charlie struggles with the normal hurdles of coming of age: crushes, first dates, discovering sex, drug experimentation, loosing oneself in music, parental strife, dealing with death, and making genuine friends.

He finds solace in two senior friends and a teacher who sees his intuition and intellect. Charlie does fall into depression toward the end but finds himself again. I was left with a warm feeling knowing Charlie would be okay in the end.

This book is "Catcher in the Rye" with a more upbeat ending. A novel that leaves the reader with the ideal that everyone matters. If your life isn't going how you planned, it's okay to feel bad about it, even if your problems pale in comparison to the problems of others. Problems are problems and sadness is sadness and we make it through in the end. I highly recommend this book to everyone.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A wonderful, passionate and heartbreaking story
Review: Possibly the best book I've ever read, The Perks of Being a Wallflower captures exactly what it is to be a teenager. The story itself is raw, Charlie one of the most honest characters I've come across in years. It is my belief that this book outdoes any other coming-of-age story I've ever read, even in its comparison to Catcher in the Rye. Perks is an insightful and vivid journey through the life of a high school freshman, and although people may think, 'There is no way a fifteen year old thinks that way,' there is. With the exception of Salinger, it was hard for me to imagine anyone truly understanding what it is to be a teenager unless they themselves are one, until I read this book. Chbosky has done a wonderful job, this book has changed the way I think and see the world - possibly my life - just in reading it. I love it! Let me also say thanks to the other reviewer who recommended The Losers Club by Richard Perez -- another good one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Great One
Review: This haunting novel is about the dilemma of passivity and growing up. The protagonist, Charlie, is entering a new world. He's entering high school for the first time and he learns about who he is to the rest of the world. Charlie is a wallflower. He's different from everyone else and he shares his feelings and thoughts to us through letters. This book is more intimate than a diary, though we don't know where Charlie lives, or who he's writing to. Charlie goes through uncharted territory, living his life and running from it all at the same time. It's a great coming-of-age story. It shows the hardships and trials of growing up in life, and competing to fit in. This novel demonstrates what it's like to grow up through a teenager's mind. Along with THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez, this is one of the best books I've read in ages.


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