The Book Nook: “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”

Though we have endured the pubescent and adolescent awkward epoch that we categorize as high school, there’s something about it other than the memories we keep that clings to our soul for the rest of our lives.  The importance, inelegance, frustration, friendships, relationships, and hardships that high school invokes and encapsulates are all captured in “The Perks of being a Wallflower.”

Stephen Chbosky outdid himself and any other debut novelist with the cult-inducing story that every person (pubescent, adolescent and even adult) feels emotionally attached to after having read it.

Charlie has just transitioned into high school after his best friend Michael committed suicide.  Obviously affected, Charlie struggles to find his own path and where he belongs in his new school.  After trudging through school like a zombie for the first couple months, Charlie finds Patrick and Sam, outcast seniors.  Not only affected by his friend’s recent death, Charlie, throughout the story, blames himself for the death of his aunt who died in a car accident when he was just a boy.  While uncovering his memories, Charlie finds his path into high school eased by his new, red-blooded and loving friends.

Chbosky depicts a teenager fighting to move on from a past that he has repressed through letters anonymously sent to a stranger.  Once you have finished the story, you will realize that the characters feel like your best friends, too.  The letters seem like they are sent to you personally, and you can only feel the pain of not even knowing their real names after knowing their incredible story.

Dalton Monk can be contacted at [email protected].