The Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of my favourite books; actually, it's my favourite book. It follows the life of a group of less than popular teenagers in the early 90's.
It's written in the format of a series of letters to an anonymous recipient from a 15 year old boy who struggles with participating in life. He goes through so many of the pressures that have always faced teens but he faces them with so much heavier of a burden on his shoulders to begin with . The letters are so intimate and honest; they're confessions of fear and love, but ultimately this boy is just looking for someone to understand. He begins writing them before he begins high school; he feels alone and afraid because his best friend had just commit suicide and while dealing with that, he has to start at this new school alone.
The letters eventually follow his life over the span of one year and his "coming of age". He eventually makes friends with a group of older kids who taint him with their world of punk rock, drugs, sex, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the theater on Friday nights. The book is so personal that it makes you nostalgic for memories you never had, or maybe you did have similar memories that this book allows you to connect with. Maybe you didn't stand in the back of a pickup truck while your friends drove through Fort Pitt tunnel, but maybe you had a thing that you did that made you feel young and happy to be alive.
Reading this book comes with so much empathy for the main character. Even though I found myself constantly telling him not to make the decisions that he does, I still understand why he is the way he is. But it's more than observing the life of an outsider with a lot of emotional distress who is thrust into the thickest of things, it's a little bit of light and understanding for anyone who has every felt really alone despite the people around them. The climax of the book leads so devastatingly and wonderfully into the conclusion which can bring anxiety for the future but is pushed away by hope and confidence and the understanding of oneself.
This is a book that I truly treasure and found to have a sense of sadness and happiness at the same time; both senses of loneliness and togetherness. It really got me into books after a long time of only reading for school.
It's written in the format of a series of letters to an anonymous recipient from a 15 year old boy who struggles with participating in life. He goes through so many of the pressures that have always faced teens but he faces them with so much heavier of a burden on his shoulders to begin with . The letters are so intimate and honest; they're confessions of fear and love, but ultimately this boy is just looking for someone to understand. He begins writing them before he begins high school; he feels alone and afraid because his best friend had just commit suicide and while dealing with that, he has to start at this new school alone.
The letters eventually follow his life over the span of one year and his "coming of age". He eventually makes friends with a group of older kids who taint him with their world of punk rock, drugs, sex, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the theater on Friday nights. The book is so personal that it makes you nostalgic for memories you never had, or maybe you did have similar memories that this book allows you to connect with. Maybe you didn't stand in the back of a pickup truck while your friends drove through Fort Pitt tunnel, but maybe you had a thing that you did that made you feel young and happy to be alive.
Reading this book comes with so much empathy for the main character. Even though I found myself constantly telling him not to make the decisions that he does, I still understand why he is the way he is. But it's more than observing the life of an outsider with a lot of emotional distress who is thrust into the thickest of things, it's a little bit of light and understanding for anyone who has every felt really alone despite the people around them. The climax of the book leads so devastatingly and wonderfully into the conclusion which can bring anxiety for the future but is pushed away by hope and confidence and the understanding of oneself.
This is a book that I truly treasure and found to have a sense of sadness and happiness at the same time; both senses of loneliness and togetherness. It really got me into books after a long time of only reading for school.