The Perks of Being a Wallflower Review

Genre: Ya | contemporary
Goodreads rating: 4.20
My rating: ★★★★★

summary

“I walk around the school hallways and look at the people. I look at the teachers and wonder why they’re here. Not in a mean way. In a curious way. It’s like looking at all the students and wondering who’s had their heart broken that day…or wondering who did the heart breaking and wondering why.”

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.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a deeply affecting coming-of-age story that will spirit you back to those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

review

How do I even start this review? I’m so tempted to just write ‘afgagfhjag just read it’ and then insert a lot of gifs that sum up my feelings, but that wouldn’t really be a good review, would it?

I’ve wanted to read The Perks of Being a Wallflower ever since I saw the film two years ago. I have no idea why I kept putting it off for so long. Maybe because I loved the film so much, that I was afraid that the book would be a disappointment? I did expect to love the book- and thank God I did.

I seriously can’t put my love for this book into words. It’s just so perfect. It all just felt so real. Most of all, Charlie felt real. During the entire book I had this big urge to hug him- which was impossible since- gasp! He’s fictional. He went through so much, but thankfully he has his family and most importantly his friends to get him through the day. I love how much he develops through the book. I’m not going into any details, since that would involve spoilers. Even though I didn’t go through the same things Charlie did, I could relate to Charlie a lot. Which made the urge to hug him even bigger. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to hug a fictional character this bad.

There were so many inspirational quotes, not just the famous ones ‘We accept the love we think we deserve’ and ‘And in that moment, I swear we were infinite’, but so many more. I’m going to share one with you guys, because otherwise I’d just quote the entire book (slight exaggeration):

“Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn’t stop for anybody.”

This is definitely my favourite quote from the book. Among many, many others.

The best thing about this book (besides the character development, the characters, the relationships, the quotes and basically everything haha) is that the story is written as a series of letters from Charlie to ‘Dear friend’, which makes it feel like you’re Charlie’s ‘dear friend’. It made me feel a lot more involved, like I was part of the story.

At the end of the book I was definitely crying. Through the entire book I had moments where I teared up, but at the end the tears were really flowing. I did laugh as well. Don’t think it’s a book where you constantly cry with no laugh or tiny smile. Don’t consider not reading the book, because you don’t like sad books or don’t like to cry. You might not even cry like I did; I’m a very emotional person.

Everyone should read this book. Everyone. Except children, they should wait a few years (which I think is obvious, but I don’t want a bunch of angry parents going after me). I personally believe that Perks is one of those books that changes you. I could go on and on about everything. I haven’t told you about the characters (they’re awesome and real and just perfect) and so many other things, but I think you should just read the book for yourself. I don’t want to spoil too much (not to mention this post would be way to long).

– The Writing Hufflepuff

Ps. I’m going to see The Maze Runner tonight!!

Pps. It’s also the fifth day of the Falling for Autumn Read-a-Thon. I’ve changed my goal to finish two books, haha. I love Jane Austen, but for some reason I can’t finish her work in such a short time.