Has anyone read this?
It is so painful but so beautiful. It is meant to be aimed at younger audiences yet i find it to be a very mature book. I find Charlie instantly likeable, i love the style it is wrote in and the fact you have to keep reading to kind of 'fill in the blanks'.

funny i found this thread today. ive just had a friend recommend it to me today. i said i liked catcher in the rye and he said about this book being similar. would you say that was the case.

KAY said:funny i found this thread today. ive just had a friend recommend it to me today. i said i liked catcher in the rye and he said about this book being similar. would you say that was the case.

^Same here, but I should get around to reading it before this month is up. :welcome:

I've started it this morning, and I've liking it a lot! Hopefully I'll finish it over the next few days, and will have more to say about it then. :welcome:

Finished this evening. Hmm.... not a great read. Easy and quick and I like the letter writing style.


Spoiler
Charlie's close friendship with Patrick and Sam developed awfully quickly and the age gap I found hard to get to grips with. I can't imagine being good friends with my sister's friends at school (who is 2 years older than me) which is what we are given in this story. Then again we are asked to believe that he was able to fight off 5 footballers easily. I suppose the story is narrated by Charlie and he could be exagerrating.

I just found out that The Perks of Being a Wallflower is being made into a movie with Emma Watson. I'd love to see this.

Although I read this last year, just noticed that there isn't really a proper synopsis and review in this thread about the book, so in case anyone is wondering what it's all about and want to read it before the film adaptation comes out, here's my thoughts from when I read it.
Title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Author: Stephen Chbosky
Publisher: Pocket Books
Rating: 4/5

Synopsis (from waterstones.com):
Charlie is a freshman. And while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. 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. Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But Charlie can't stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.
Review:
Told as a series of letters to an unknown recipient, this story of Charlie's journey through a year in high school perfectly evokes what it is like to be a teenager. It's a time when we all desperately struggle to fit in, yet all feel like we never quite manage it, and this book sums that up magnificently. Woven through the letters there is an underlying sense of tension with Charlie's story unfolding to an unsettling revelation, but there is also the joy and fun of growing up and first experiences of drinking, drugs, relationships and sex.
This book was a joy to read, yet made me feel sad and melancholy as well, and in fact, made me feel exactly how I remember as a teenager, trying to find my place in the social hierarchy at school, testing the boundaries with my parents and beginning to experience life as an adult.
A touching, heartfelt coming of age story, beautifully told.

I read this a few weeks back, and though for a long time I've been avoiding it because it seemed too 'Catcher in the Rye'-like, and very teeny, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it.
It's written in the form of letters but very easy to be drawn into the story. Charlie, however naive and odd he might seem, is a very likable character. Also, the book is not shallow at all which, I must admit, I was expecting and it was one of the main reasons I kept avoiding reading it.
I didn't like it because of the story that much, though. I liked it because of Charlie and the atmosphere of the book. It's sad at most parts, and it sure feels like it. Not a very happy book, but still, a good read imo



This post has been edited by Brida: 22 May 2011 - 04:19 PM

I LOVED this book. I read it in two days because I could not put it down. It was the kind of book I could easily get too involved in and suddenly find myself wondering how Charlie has been since his last letter.