The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Rating: Starry Eyed - 5/5
Release Date: June 29th, 2010
Publishers: MTV Books & Pocket Books
Pages: 213
Source: Borrowed

First, a quick summary from goodreads:

"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.This haunting novel about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion marks the stunning debut of a provocative voice in contemporary fiction: The Perks of Being a Wallflower. This is the story of what it’s like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, andThe Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. Through Charlie, Stephen Chbosky has created a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, a powerful novel that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller coaster days known as growing up."

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is pretty much about a boy named Charlie, and his experiences in high school - to put it simply.

The first thing that struck me with this book was how utterly simplistic it was... Yet incredibly deep at the same time. What Charlie was saying was simple enough, and very straight forward, but it really made you sit there and think. Think about how others are fairing, what happened to get them there, why people act the way they do, amongst a million other things. In Charlie's case, the perks of being a wallflower is the ability to sit there and merely observe and take in all of this amazing detail about everyone surrounding him.

The only thing is, while Charlie is meant to be 15-16 in the book, I didn't quite feel like he was nearly anywhere that old. He felt more like a 10 or 11 year old boy experiencing everything for the first time. Yet, this didn't really bother me. Considering that everyone was telling him that Charlie didn't really participate in anything, he probably was experience many of these things for the first time.

I was also oddly jealous of all of the literature Charlie was plowing through during his school year... I mean, I would never have the tolerance for all those books. When I saw that his teacher gave him a copy of The Great Gatsby, I cringed. God, I really thought that book was boring.

Chbosky's novel also has the ability to read really easily. And even though you don't really get to hear much from the characters that Charlie surrounds himself with, you still get a really good feel for who they are and what they stand for, which I think is really amazing.

Even though there isn't much plot structure to Chbosy's book, I really didn't care. It was such an easy read and it flowed really nicely and I just loved the writing style. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is one awesome, insightful book that I would recommend to anyone who's looking for a read that just sticks with them.