The perks of being a wallflower, Stephen Chbosky, Simon Schuster Uk. When you read the book, this gives the feeling that Charlie is writing to you. However he lacks in the communication department specially on describing or even recognizing emotions. As the school year progresses, Charlie begins to come out of his shell somewhat, but Charlie’s life, his family life, and his friends’ lives become more and more complicated. The Question and Answer section for The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a great He will get you thinking about the good things and what really matters in life. This book is good. It is not until the end of the novel, when Charlie is about to have sex with Sam, that Charlie realizes that Aunt Helen had sexually abused him. No surprise that the reason I read a book that came… One of the most important things that I appreciate and love about books, is that they remind me that I still have a heart, and my heart is a rather fragile thing, especially when I chose to read "The perks of being a Wallflower" I'll admit, I was slightly apprehensive about reading this, as I'd seen the film a long while ago, and I thought it was pretty average. Like many teens, Charlie is not happy in his family, for example because he doesn’t think he can be as successful as his … Also, Charlie begins to participate more in events, and he becomes friends with Patrick and his stepsister, Sam, who integrate him into their friend group. Don't get me wrong. Charlie constantly worries about other people and tries to determine what is going on beneath the surface of society. It's also not easy being a reader who's left thinking "So what was all the fuss about?" This year is no exception. More sophisticated readers might object to the rip-off of Salinger, though Chbosky pays homage by having his protagonist read Catcher in the Rye. I don't even think I can truly convey how much I loved this book other than to say it was entirely life changing and I'm so upset it took me this long to read it. Charlie encounters the same struggles that many kids face in high school--how to make friends, the intensity of a crush, family tensions, a first relationship, exploring sexuality, experimenting with drugs--but he must also deal with his best friend's recent suicide. Please try your request again later. I am glad that he found a friend in his teacher, who suggested he read many books--several of which I would now also like to read. Brad’s abusive father discovers Patrick and Brad’s relationship, and Brad is sent to rehab. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. You want to find out what the deal is with the main character for the entire book and at the end, you eventually get a pretty damn good idea. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Something went wrong. Shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. [I believe it's Charlie, writing to "himself" ... To the person he was during those moments he blacked out; the person who did things he never would; the person who "didn't sleep with her, even though he could have". Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in. These new friends make more sense to Charlie than his star football-playing older brother ever did and they are able to teach him about the realities of life that his older sister doesnt have the time to share with him. Charlie has the usual dire adolescent problems--sex, drugs, the thuggish football team--and they perplex him in the usual teen TV ways. The sexual contact dredges up a repressed memory of his Aunt Helen molesting him as a child. I did not love this book and do not understand its popularity. I originally rated this two stars? Nobody under 18 should be reading this. It was in the spring of the previous school year that his best friend committed suicide and now that his class has gone through a summer of change, the boy finds that he has drifted away from old friends. From the beginning, Charlies identity as an outsider is credibly established. At first I was wary of this since it was so 'mainstream', but after being charmed by the film I gave it a chance and it has to be one of my favourite books in recent years. Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. First, his English teacher, Bill Anderson, recognizes Charlie’s talent for literature, and he takes him under his wing, assigning him extra books to read and essays to write over the course of the year. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. This report on his life will engage teen readers for years to come.Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA, Aspiring filmmaker/first-novelist Chbosky adds an upbeat ending to a tale of teenaged angstthe right combination of realism and uplift to allow it on high school reading lists, though some might object to the sexuality, drinking, and dope-smoking. Charlie feels persistent guilt about this death because Helen died while buying Charlie a second birthday present.