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Summary: teenage truth
Review: come now what other book can you find thats as honest as this one? either your were locked up in your room when you were a teen or you had the same experiances as charlie sam and patrick did i know i did. read it and youll stumble onto lost memories.
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Summary: Should Be a Classic
Review: There's something a little weird about Charlie. In The Perks of Being a Wallflower this 15-year-old high school freshman writes a series of letters to a stranger. Charlie's first letter sets up several questions. Why did Charlie make his teachers nervous last year after his friend Michael's suicide? What problems does Charlie have at home? What bad thing happened to his Aunt Helen? Charlie concludes "Some people really do have it a lot worse than I do. They really do." Written over the 1991-1992 school year the remaining letters are instructive reading for anyone who has forgotten the hellish nature of adolescence. But The Perks of Being a Wallflower is misplaced as a young adult novel. Although the protagonist is young, the themes of this book are adult, treated without any assumption of a happy ending or any other formulaic convention Wallflower is a strikingly original novel. Although the rhythm of Charlie's speech is reminiscent of Holden Caulfield (Catcher in the Rye), he seems to have more purity and a different kind of wisdom than Holden. Some similarities could also be drawn between Wallflower and some of the works of Robert Cormier (in particular, I Am the Cheese). But Charlie is a child of the 1990's, and although odd, he is sophisticated. His observations about the struggles of the people are sharp and relevant to anyone interested in human nature.
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Summary: ...I feel infinite...
Review: First, I must say that this book is absolutely captivating. Through this series of letters to an unknown recipient, the reader gets to the bottom of Charlie's mentality. His letters are both beautifully touching, and utterly devastating all at the same time. Charlie takes you along on his first-time journeys. From the first time he smokes a cigarette, to the first, and last, time he takes LSD. His best friends Sam and Patrick seem to be very complex characters, Sam being the object of Charlie's desire, and Patrick being Charlie's gay best friend, as well as Sam's stepbrother. One may begin reading this book, feeling as though they have a sense of 'Charlie,' but later it is only to be found out that his emotional problems are much more deep-rooted and heartbreaking than one could have ever imagined. This novel captures that perfect feeling that one might feel on that perfect drive, with that perfect song on the radio. Charlie labels it with a name, sitting between Sam and Patrick on that perfect night, in Sam's pick-up truck, he says, "I feel infinite." And it's perfect, because everyone knows that feeling...but before this novel...No one could ever describe it in words. Five stars, impossible to put down.
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Summary: An Amazing Novel
Review: This book takes you back to your days as a high school freshman. It reminds you about love, loss, and recoverry. Chobosky shows you life in the eyes of Charlie. Through his journey from the shy freshman to someone who has changed and made new frirends. This is a book you can read over and over again, and find something that you didnt know before. I highly recommend this book, it's amazing! I've read it at least 50+ times and each time I find something that I never knew.
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Summary: This book is great
Review: a friend of mine let me borrow this book not to long ago and i loved it. this book is a wonderful look into a young teenagers life as he searchs to find meaning of it.
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Summary: A 17-yr. old reader says...
Review: Stephen Chbosky has written a coming of age story that will be around for a long long time. It encourages you to be yourself and to be open to new experiences. Charlie is a bright, inquisitive, and compassionate boy who has lived through some loneliness. He appears different from the rest of his family, who act carefree and uninhibited. Charlie demonstrates a thoughtfulness rare in people his age, often causing him to act in ways no one seems to understand. I can really relate to that and to his wishing to feel "infinite". However, this book has some mature content that shouldn't be read by anyone younger than about 14 or 15. Charlie starts the book as a very sheltered high school freshman and is changed by two high school seniors. It is good that he saw how things really are, but sometimes (perhaps I am sheltered myself) I was disappointed in what Charlie did. I also thought it was unrealistic for him to do those things, considering how sheltered he once was. He does all right though, and the book overall is enjoyable and inspiring, speckled with both humor and drama. The writing style itself is almost annoyingly simple and the plot is very easy to understand, but the depth with which Charlie probes his surroundings and himself and the other characters makes up for it. This book serves as a salute to the shy ones and makes them want to "participate" and seek the unconditional friendships that Charlie finds. Personally I hope for a sequel!
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Summary: the perks...
Review: When i first started reading this book, i put the book down after two pages thinking "not another catcher in the rye rip-off". Sure i was not being fair, considering I still had the idea of MTV having a hand in its publication. But its a book ive enjoyed, its easy reading, and i felt light after reading it. It seems to be written in the Salinger style, in some ways it is, and in other it isnt. What i mean to say is, this book does have an identity of its own, rather than something thats borrowed. I highly recommend this book, especially to those that want an easy read and want to feel in someway or the other enlightened at the end of it
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Summary: The only person in the world to understand me!
Review: I wish I could have Charlie for a friend, too bad he's only a book character.
What he goes through and what he discovers he's gone through truely is more then most teens ever have to deal with, but the process he goes through makes him a strong person in the end and it's so encouraging to read how Charlie survives truths about the past, scorn from classmates and friends and the issue of sex.
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Summary: what an amazing book (:
Review: this book was great... i recommend it to anyone who has ever felt alone or confused. charlie is just so easy to relate to and easy to fall in love with... you feel like he's your best friend by then end of the book. it was a short read --took me less than 48 hours-- and left me feeling very inspired. i recommend it, for sure. :D enjoy.
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Summary: best book i've ever read.
Review: This book made me cry more than any other book i've ever read, it made me laugh harder than i have for a long time, and it is, out of the hundreds of books i've read (including Harry Potter), the greatest! i would say more 'Adult' than 'young', but if there's any jr. high or high schooler out there who is considered weird with wierd friends, they should read The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
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