111. the perks of being a wallflower – Stephen Chbosky, MTV Books/Pocket Books, February 1999, ISBN: 9780671027346, 213p.
Featuring: Charlie
Synopsis (from back cover):
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 new 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, and The 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.
Comments:
Oh, where to begin. This is not my usual sort of read... I read it for my Intellectual Freedom class - a book that has been challenged in multiple libraries. It was actually quite interesting. In some ways, I could relate... I was certainly not the center of the high school crowd. At the same time, many of the experiences Charlie goes through were foreign to me (I was always a bit of a "goody" in addition to being quiet). I kept thinking "Is this what high school was like for my brother? or my sister?" I would say Charlie is definitely the kind of character you can root for though.
The great gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap [Hah! It most certainly is not!], it consoles, it distracts, it excites. It gives knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is moral illumination. ~ Elizabeth Hardwick
