The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Rating:
Summary: Mature Readers Will Enjoy The Perks
Review: Last week, I was moved when I saw Mr. Chbosky at the IRA conference in Indy. He spoke beautifully about the state of teenagers today. Therefore, I bought his book and was intrigued by the sensitivity illustrated in his character, Charlie. I am, however, compelled to advise parents and teachers to read this book before reccomending it to their children. It is a mature novel.None of the sexuality issues, drug use, or language are gratuitious. In fact, they are needed for the honesty in the novel. I would caution that this novel should be used in high school and not in middle school. It would be more appropriate for that age group. I am not a censor. I loved the book. I encourage mature readers to embrace the touching tale of Charlie, Patrick, Sam and all the others.

Rating:
Summary: I loved this book!
Review: charlie, the main character is a wonderful, amazing guy. i fell in love with him just like i fell in love with holden caulfied. read this book no matter what age you are. it is a beautiful view of life including the good and the bad. it's insightful, funny, and moving. one of the best books i've read in a long time.

Rating:
Summary: the perks of being a wallflower
Review: the perks of being a wallflower is an incredibly truthful account of being a teenager in America today. I am 18 and could relate very well to the experiences Charlie had in the book, since it was set in the early nineties. The book is a compilation of letters to an anonymous friend that has no way to respond. The letters begin the day before Charlie's first day of high school, and continue until the day before his sophomore year of high school. They provide a chronological account of his life for a year, beginning with no friends, making a few friends, then losing them when they graduated and went off to college. The book reminded me of the TV show "Freaks and Geeks" because Charlie is not a popular kid. Most teenage books are about the lives of the popular people, the people the unpopular ones always want to be. Charlie, on the other hand, gets special reading assignments from his English teacher because he's more advanced than the other kids, goes to The Rocky Horror Picture Show every Friday night, and goes to his first football game alone. I cannot come up with another book I have read that has been so truthful and looked at the world, high school in particular, in such an honest way. As far as I know, this is Stephen Chbosky's first novel, but he has written several film scripts. He gets into the heart of this fourteen year old boy and shows the world through Charlie's eyes, which gives the reader a new perspective on friends, relationships, and high school in general. In the first few letters, I wondered where Charlie lived and who he was writing to. As I got deeper into the book, I no longer thought about these things because I was so caught up in the story of Charlie's life. By part 4, I was incredibly engrossed in the book and could not put it down at night; I stayed up until 1AM to finish it. Many of the things Charlie experimented with as a freshman, I, a senior, still have yet to experience. He has read books that I have never heard of, such as "The Fountainhead" and "The Stranger." He has many older friends, so they experiment with drugs, and he joins them. Charlie uses language very similar to mine, and writes in short, choppy sentences and paragraphs. At one of Charlie's loneliest times in the book, he writes, "I just wish that God or my parents of Sam or my sister or someone would just tell me what's wrong with me. Just tell me how to be different in a way that makes sense. To make all this go away. And disappear." (p. 139) Chbosky does not use much imagery, but the language he uses in this quotation makes the feelings of loneliness and frustration concrete. As a teenager in a similar situation, I can closely relate with how Charlie feels, and Chbosky expressed these feelings perfectly. When Charlie becomes friends with Sam and Patrick, they lead him into the world of drugs and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The only thing I did not like about the book was that it portrayed teenagers as heavily into drugs and sex. These things are not a part of my life, and I don't want anyone that reads the book to think that all teenagers are on drugs and having sex these days, although some of them are. I am not sure a conservative person would like this book, especially if the person were closed-minded. The story seems very real, and the things that Charlie deals with are probably things a closed-minded adult would never have dealt with, and therefore could not relate. This book is geared toward my generation, which is why it is an MTV book. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, as have several other people I have talked to about it. If you have an open mind and enjoy coming of age stories, I would highly recommend the perks of being a wallflower.

Rating:
Summary: sex, drugs and the rocky horror picture show
Review: this book is a wild roller coaster ride through experiences that anyone who ever went to highschool remembers all too well. this book portrays the wild world of sex, drugs, and the rocky horror picture show through a freshman named charlie's eyes. even with some mature content, this book is a great read for highschool and college students alike.

Rating:
Summary: A Lifesaver For All Teenagers!
Review: It is almost totally safe to say that everyone, during their high school years, feels insecure about themselves. They all have trouble with friends, fitting in, school life, and at home with family. What they don't know, is that everybody feels like this sometimes.

The arduous time of everyone's life of the high school years is best depicted in a book by Stephen Chbosky entitled Perks Of Being A Wallflower. In it, the protagonist Charlie tells his stories through a very interesting way. Charlie is a freshman in high school. He feels as if he does not fit in and is somewhat of a loser after someone tells him he's a "wallflower." Charlie is unique in the way that he deals with his problems. One day in school he overheard these two people talking about someone they knew. They were describing how this person did not sleep with someone although he or she easily could have. For some reason this impacted Charlie very much. One day Charlie had had enough and needed greatly to vent his worries to somebody. Since he is not comfortable talking his problems out with a family member or his friends, he kept the person whom he had heard those people in his class talking about in mind. He decided to keep a journal of some sorts and write it in letter form to this person. The book are these letters.

If not for this book, I honestly do not see how I could have possibly survived my early high school career. Throughout the book there is a sprinkle of great advice on each page. It is very easy to relate to Charlie along with the other characters and their daily struggles. At the end of the book, you learn that it is not a bad thing at all to feel these bad feelings. It is a good thing, in fact. Being a wallflower is dealing with life. These are the years that shape you, and with reading this book you learn that you should learn as much as possible from your teenage years.

So far I have read the book 6 times, and get much good out of it each and every time I read. I have bought it for just about every one of my friends and they all agree, this book is a wonder.

Perks Of Being A Wallflower is a life saver to all of us coping with maybe the hardest time of life. Teenage years.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I have read in years!
Review: this book was so good! The way that stephen chbosky brings out the character Charlie is so relative to me. I'm about the same age as Charlie and a lot the things that he experiences are easy to understand. I think that if you have an open mind to young people or is a young person you should really read this book. My english teacher ordered a lot of them for his class and just about everyone has over read the assignment he gives us. I think that this book with really help you understand a lot about the young audience and the things that they go through.

Rating:
Summary: The Perks Of Being A Wallflower
Review: "The Perks of Being A Wallflower" is much more than a lamenting teeny-bopper diatribe against life. It is a good story about being real in the face of enemies, and about living life to the fullest. Although it wasn't the greatest book I've ever read, I recommend it to anyone with 2 hours, a sense of humor, and some un-named question stored in the back of their mind. 4 stars

Rating:
Summary: Best Book I've ever picked up
Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an awesome book. It makes you think and puts you inside and gets you involved in the book. After reading it, I felt great and wanted to read more about Charlie's life. I recommend this book highly, especially if you are a high school student living a similar life.

Rating:
Summary: Perks
Review: Wow! This is the most amazingly true book that I have ever read! I completely identify with the main character. Some people might say that this book copies the style of "The Catcher in the Rye", but I think it's sort of like an update for the next generation.

Rating:
Summary: the monster breathes
Review: I have never cried as hard as i did when i read this book. What charlie goes through, the things he sees and the things he feels, it all paralleled my life on so many levels. I openly wept for the first time ever from a book and it felt so good. For once, an author has gotten it right. Everything inside of me was written here.

Charlie goes through so much. He really changes, metamorphosises and takes everyone he touches with him. This book has a magic about it that i will always be grateful for. After i read it, i gave a copy to all my closest friends and hoped they'd understand me better for having read it. So many of them hadn't understood my emotions until they read it. The way chbosky writes it, you can feel the characters breathing. This book has changed my life.