The Perks Of Being A Wallflower Book Review: How Often Do You Do Things That Matter?

Book number 1 is The Perks of Being a Wallflower by S. Chbosky. I read it twice. 🙂 The first time I finished was on January 1 and the second was today. To be honest, having this book disguised as an innocent book for adolescents bothered me because this is really not a book that would make you feel good.

The book discussed suicide, drugs, sex and gay sex, abortion, battery, child abuse, and mental illness, sandwiched in between narratives on dating, dysfunctional families, mix tapes, late night parties, and how difficult it is to find your place and when you finally find it, how life always seems to easily take it, and how difficult it is to find your place again but when you do, you’d be laughing.

I mean, The Perks of Being a Wallflower was great but it was meant for thinking… You need to “be a filter, not a sponge.” This is actually the first time I wondered whether books for young adults should have a parental advisory ticket. I’m not sure. But then again, this book may not even be intended for young adults and I just assumed it is because the general topic is coming of age.

The more I think about it, the more I cannot place the answer on what is the perk of being a wallflower. The only association to a wallflower that I could find was that of the main character named Charlie who “see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand.”

Honestly, I do not think Charlie understands. He just sees things and wonders why these things happen, then later accepts them whether he has figured them out or not. He also lived a very disturbed life, which was later established was a result of child molestation, by his most favorite person in the world no less, and I cannot find any perk there really. I hope I did not miss the point of the book. 😯

But I can relate to Charlie. I did not fit in easily too and prior to reading this book, I actually thought I was a wallflower. But now I know that is the silliest thought I had so far. 😆 I am hardly passive. I guess I just don’t like trends and fads and I mind my own business and I do not live to impress anyone. This makes me the odd one but I don’t mind being weird if it meant doing the right thing and choosing my battles well.

This book has actually taught me a lot of important things like how it is cool to “be different in a way that makes sense”, that I should not talk too much and strive to listen well, and if anything matters, it has got to be “to do things” and be honest.

It is really a nice book (it was made into a movie set to come out this year) but it is not for the faint of heart. It is kind of dark and it takes you to some of the most uncomfortable things in life. It did reference a lot of good literature, and music, and showed that different people can be cool in their own unique ways, if you let them. 🙂

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is far from the most entertaining book ever but if you keep an open mind and you dare to be different, this is a book you will not soon forget.

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On the photo: I brought the book to the beach with me yesterday but I did not read it much because I realized it is not the type of book you read to chill out. You can also see that I’m using the blue help me bookmark I got from my Dear Santa I’ve Been Good loot (my partner last year was Jeanny). I’d also like to say thanks to Rem again for giving me this book over the holidays. 🙂