Review # 3: "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky

I don't believe in fate or a higher power, but it seems to me like certain books come to us at just the perfect time.  Perhaps you have experienced this phenomenon before, and if not, I hope you will someday.  You pick up a new book, and it perfectly describes an emotion you've been feeling or an experience you've had.  Or you find a book you've read dozens of times and suddenly it seems brand new, as though someone has gone back and changed the words to match your life.

I experienced something similar while reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, an absolutely beautiful and heart wrenching novel.  Although the book was published 13 years ago, and most people I've talked to read it in high school, I was only inspired to borrow this book at the end of my second year university.  On the back cover of my edition, Perks is described as "the story of what it's like to grow up in high school" and while I may be a little removed from high school, and from the 15 year old male narrator, it's the experiences that have occurred to me since being 15 that made my reading now so poignant.  

For those that have not read it (and please do before you see the film!), Perks is composed of the letters of 15 year old Charlie, a shy outsider, as he navigates a year in public high school.  The letters are all addressed to an anonymous 'Friend', and are very intimate.  I think this is what makes Perks so powerful.  Almost immediately, I was drawn into Charlie's inner thoughts, entrusted with them, like something very precious and fragile.  As a reader, I felt responsible for what happens to him and the emotional connection that I felt was astounding.

In describing his life, Charlie assumes that his reader is older than he is, and can therefore comprehend his experiences more thoroughly.  While I may have understood some of Charlie's high school experiences to a certain extent as a 15 year old myself, I think I would have missed many of the novel's beautiful subtleties and also the horrors.  As someone experiencing depression for the first time, Charlie explains things in terms of his own feelings, rather than the textbook descriptions someone who is older may use.  Therefore, there are some blanks which can only be filled in once someone (aka the reader) has had such experiences themselves.  This created an interesting tension of objectivity and subjectivity: I was trusted to observe Charlie's actions as an experienced outsider, but also couldn't help but remember being in his same place, feeling the same emotions he describes.

In conclusion, I can only hope that the film is able to capture all of this on screen, although I doubt it.  I also wonder about the focus of the film.  For those of you that haven't read Perks, I would warn you that this is not your average high school romance novel--there are many serious issues (eg; violence, rape, drug abuse, suicide, abortion) dealt with in the novel, and while these things certainly aren't new focuses for literature, I am unsure whether such a mainstream film will be able to discuss them in full.    

Genre:  YA Fiction
Recommended To:  Everyone.  No matter what age you are, please read this book.
Rating:  10/10 
Favourite Quotes: "I would die for you.  But I won't live for you" and "And in that moment, I swear we were infinite."    

Link to the film's IMBD Page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1659337/