The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a young adult novel written by Stephen Chbosky and published in February 1999.

The book describes the life of a very introverted and sensitive 15-year-old boy through the letters he writes to a pen pal. He describes his friends, particularly two older teens who take a liking to him, his family, the music he listens to, the books he reads, the social events he goes to, and his introduction into the larger world of relationships, sex, and drug use.

Personal

Own?	No.
Read?	Yes. Audiobook read by Noah Galvin.
Finished	2024-03-28.

I learned about the existence of the book when it was turned into a film, and, only then because it starred Emma Watson. However, I still made no attempt to watch or read it. After seeing the book on a list of challenged books, I finally decided to read it.

Review

Overall:

Good

• The book presents the rebellious world of older teenagers as seen through the eyes of a late-blooming neurodivergent 15-year-old boy. This is well-executed and results in a lot of funny and thought-provoking moments. I particularly like that he is befriended by two older teens who help guide him through his life.
• The book deals with a lot of heavy issues like date rape, abortion, physical abuse, sexual abuse, drug use, and the like. It doesn't glamorize them, but instead talks about coping mechanisms for them.
• I love that Sam tells Charlie that he has to live for himself and do what he wants, even if he knows other people might not like him for being himself.
• I like the various references to books, music, and film. I was familiar with a lot of them, like The Rocky Horror Picture Show and, for the ones I wasn't, I treated them as suggestions.

Bad

• It was a nice addition to have Charlie start mimicking Holden's idiosyncratic "it really does" phrase after he read Catcher in the Rye, but it only reminded me how annoying it is.
• I don't really like books which use an epistolary format. The lack of an actual recipient made it even more annoying (although, I get it's not necessary).

Ugly

• Charlie suddenly "remembering" sexual assault is a dangerous plot device as it perpetuates the largely discredited notion of repressed memories. In reality, most traumatic events are usually embedded very clearly into our memory.

Representation

Strong female character?	Pass	Sam is strong.
Bechdel test?	Unknown
Strong person of color character?	Fail
Queer character?	Pass	Patrick and Brad are gay.

The books uses the racial slur "gyp," though the character using it doesn't know it's a slur.

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