The Perks of Being a Wallflower

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Summary: The most beautiful book I've ever read
Review: Reading the other reviews portrayed quite a variety in how this book is viewed. For those that say teenagers don't feel that way, I'm probably the exception. I'm a 17 year old girl, and this book explains everything I've ever felt and then some. I ordered it around May of '99 and there's not a day that goes by that I don't read a passage from this book. It made me feel infinite at times, empty at some. This book is indeed beautiful. Don't just listen to my opinion, find out for yourself. Because in reality that's what life is all about.

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Summary: an amazing book, it left me speechless at the end....
Review: This book once i picked it up, i couldn't stop reading. When I put down the book I was very satisfied with the ending. I thought it brought the whole book together and gave this endless amount of letters and stories a meaning. It gave every part of Charlie a reason...

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Summary: If you're in high school, at least TRY to read this book
Review: I have been waiting for this book for a while, and the day I got it I started reading. After an hour, I stopped reading, trying not to spoil the ending and the rest of the book, but I picked the book up again and kept reading. And once I finished it, I'm reading it again for a second time. In my opinion, this book is that good that you can't leave it unfinished. However, this book should be read ONLY be people who 1. Are not teachers, and 2. Have actually been into high school (no little middle schoolers here!) Otherwise, you should really like this book. The fact that it is in the early 90's shouldn't throw you off that much. I thought that it was better than Catcher in the Rye, but that's my opinion, so you'll have to read it for yourself.

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Summary: if you don't like this book, i don't like you
Review: an excellent book. i reccomend it to anyone who's not an moron. don't trust yourself on this judgement, ask a friend. because obviously some of you submitting one star reviews are having a hard time identifying the guilty party in your lack of enjoyment.

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Summary: joyce and salinger meet in the school cafeteria
Review: part "catcher in the rye," part "portrait of the artist as a young man," "perks" is a beautiful experience. thank you mr. chbosky for a job well done.

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Summary: One of the most touching & thought-provoking books I've read
Review: I was a little wary of the book when I first began reading it..but I was hooked on it almost immediately. I finished the book in one night and went on to read it two more times. Never have I been so fascinated with a book. Skeptics may be turned off by it's bluntness and simplicity, but I felt that the simplicity of the book just added more depth. I never thought a simple story of a naive boy struggling through high school could touch me so much..but it did. I could keep going on and on forever, but I'll end by saying I recommend this book to anyone who wants a thought-provoking read.

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Summary: One of the best books in years
Review: This book is truely one of the best I've ever read. I'm 15, and I've read every book under the sun, from "Brave New World' to "A Catcher in the Rye" and this easily surpasses both of them. It truely changed the way I view my life, and everyone else's around me. Read this book, because you won't regret it one bit, I promise you that.

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Summary: Best I've read all year
Review: I had a feeling this book was going to be good from the second I opened it and saw that the main character is entering his freshman year the same year I did. I totally meshed with the characters. Everyone can find at least one character that they can compare themselves with in some way. It is a true revalation of a freshman year.

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Summary: very true to life portrayal of growing up in the nineties
Review: I'm 21, and was a freshman in high school in 1992 just like Charlie. There were moments in the book that made me cry because I could relate so perfectly to what he was feeling. I finished thinking that maybe I wasn't the only person who had felt the way I did during high school. Back when I read young adult fiction, it was all about cheerleaders and football players and the "popular" crowd, or the kids who desperately wanted to be them. I think it is so cool and refreshing to see a book about a teenager who tries to live his life outside of the mainstream, without turning him into the typical "freak" stereotype. From the books Charlie read to the music he listened to to the older friends he made, this book is such a fabulous portrait of what it meant to be a teenager in the early nineties. This is really the first represention of adulescence that I have ever read and been totally able to identify with. My only caveat was the format, which I found a little stilted. I would have preferred a straight first-person narrative without using letters as a frame. But, that really didn't take anything away from my enjoyment of the book. While I think that people in their early twenties would love this book because it may reflect their experience, I also think it would be a great read for younger teens. The book has some really cool progressive stances that you don't see in a lot of YA fiction, not to mention that it alludes to quite a few other really great books. When I finished the book it was 4 am, but I woke my boyfriend up anyway and told him that he absolutely had to read this book. I bought a copy for my sister for her birthday. Now that I think of it, I should give my parents a copy so that they could understand where I was coming from when I was 15! Anyway, it's one of the best books I have read in a really long time.

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Summary: How can you honestly call this book a classic?
Review: I decided to buy this book strictly based on the reviews that were on this site. This book is far from a classic. After I finished the book I kept asking myself, did I miss something? I am not that far removed from high school and I am a high school teacher and I did not care for this book at all. I even noticed that some reviewers compared this to Catcher in the Rye. What were these people smoking? Catcher is so well written that it could not possibly be compared to Perks. The only perk of this book is to take it for what it is worth, an attempt to rip-off Catcher and update it for the millenium.