I picked up the Perks of being a Wallflower on the cheap, thank you DCU Book Society, over a month ago. It's a book that's been on my list for a long time and the opportunity to purchase it for four euro was too good to pass up. It was time to see if the book would live up to the very positive recommendations that came from several of my friends.
The novel centres around Charlie, a socially awkward 15 year old who's best friend Michael committed suicide. Charlie begins High School with no friends, many of the people he knew from middle school have drifted away or joined different social groups. He is eventually befriended by an older student, Patrick who then introduces Charlie to his social group. The story then goes on to chart Charlies adventures with a new group of friends, and dealing with feelings he has never had before, particularly for Sam, Patrick's step sister, with whom he is immediately smitten with.
The narrative is revealed to the reader through letters that Charlie writes to an unknown recipient. This affords the reader the opportunity to experience the narrative on the same level as Charlie. It also is effective at conveying his innocence in the presence of his peers who are older had have considerably more worldly experience. On reflection, the fact that Charlie is addressing the reader upfront, making them the intended audience of his writings makes Charlies even more sympathetic. The reader, almost immediately, feels like Charlies only friend as a result. This creates a bond between reader and narrator that is seldom seen in fiction and often takes a long time to build up when it does happen. It also provides for some brilliant moments of humour in the novel, Charlies naivety will provide the more worldly reader with many a chuckle.
The Perks of being a Wallflower, is a great coming of age story. Charlie is an instantly likable a memorable protagonist a product of great thought on the author's part. The journey from innocence to experience, is conveyed through the relationships Charlies has with the different characters in the novel. The relationship he has with his family, the individual members of his new group of friends and with his English teacher, all allow us to see Charlies growth as a person. Special praise is reserved for the author, in how he can manage to treat all the individual threads of the different relationships with as much care as the other and make them all seem significant no matter how small they really are.
That's really the main message I took from this book, that it's our relationships with other people that make us. Others can change us, shape us, introduce us to new and wonderful things, help appreciate the past and above all help us through difficult time.
The book is definitely worth a read. It has a cast of distinct and colourful characters, each with their own personality and such detail, I find, is seldom seen elsewhere. It's got a compelling story, that take you through the entire emotional spectrum and it boasts an almost Tarantino like quality in it's pop culture references (albeit here it's referencing books and late 1980's early 1990's music and trends).
Just more thoughts from nowhere.
Thanks for reading.
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