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The Perks of Being a Wallflower

by Stephen Chbosky

Other authors: See the other authors section.

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
19,554727203 (4.01)417
Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML:Read the cult-favorite coming of age story that takes a sometimes heartbreaking, often hysterical, and always honest look at high school in all its glory. Now a major motion picture starring Logan Lerman and Emma Watson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a funny, touching, and haunting modern classic.
The critically acclaimed debut novel from Stephen Chbosky, Perks follows observant "wallflower" Charlie as he charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood. First dates, family drama, and new friends. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

A years-long #1 New York Times bestseller, an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults and Best Book for Reluctant Readers, and with millions of copies in print, this novel for teen readers (or "wallflowers" of more-advanced age) will make you laugh, cry, and perhaps feel nostalgic for those moments when you, too, tiptoed onto the dance floor of life.
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    lucyknows: Virgin Suicides is pretty heavy going however there are quite a few films about teenage angst they might work. Some are darker than others and some are quite old but they could work with Perks... Breakfast Club, Heathers, Girl Interrupted, Rebel without a cause, Footloose, The Year my Voice Broke, Donnie Darko, Ferris Bueller's Day Off.… (more)
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» See also 417 mentions

English (717)  Danish (2)  Dutch (2)  Spanish (2)  German (1)  All languages (724)
Showing 1-5 of 717 (next | show all)
This book was depressing as heck and gave me the ick at some parts, but I still think it was an important book. I related to Charlie in some ways which I think is why I did end up liking it as much as I did. It’s hard for me to write a review for this book, to be honest because of a lot of the content in it. ( )
  TimeLord10SPW | May 19, 2023 |
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
by Stephen Chbosky

#books #reviews #classics #contemporary

My Rating: 5/5

I guess I would be pretty dumb to give this a 5 star rating and call it just not bad. It is very good really and the point doesn't start hitting home until it is all taken in a stride in retrospection. It is the story of a teenager Charlie (or so he says his name is) .. who is really a good, decent youngster but finds it difficult to really "participate" or be involved in "action"/things .. he is rather like a wallflower .. watching and helping others but when it comes to his desires and wishes, they are pushed to the background. Why has he become the way he is and does he ever find a way out? The series of happenings in his life are passed to the reader through a set of letters .. more like entries in a private journal. Like all teenagers, he does smoking, heavy drinking and has a long term crush on Sam, his friend's sister .. and loves gifting people some creative things like mix tapes etc. Charlie is a sweet guy .. one of fiction's notable characters created I feel. ( )
  nagasravika.bodapati | Apr 1, 2023 |
Odd book. Readable, but odd. ( )
  Michelle_PPDB | Mar 18, 2023 |
Such a really good and heartbreaking book. I saw the movie first and loved that but the book is even better! ( )
  ALeighPete | Mar 10, 2023 |
One sentence summary: I didn't like the main character and I don't think I understood it.

The main character was very annoying. He was a bit too clueless, and while other people probably find that cute, I am not one of those people. But good for him, finding people in-universe who put up with him. I'm happy that happened.

But sometimes, obviously, his cluelessness was just way too over the top, and it annoyed the shit out of me. Especially with the whole "kiss the most beautiful girl"-thing and going up to his dead friend's ex-girlfriend. Like, from Charlie's perspective they were not-so-great-moments, but look at them from the girls' perspective and it's downright fucking cruel, both times. Who does that!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

As for not understanding it ... I don't know what the revelation at the end was meant to do for me? It seemed like the biggest fucking deal in the entire book happened over just a few pages, mostly off-screen, and that's just weird to me. Shouldn't that have been a bigger deal or something? I know it was hinted at, and I'm sure rereading it would be very interesting, but still ... it seemed off or something. I don't know why it happened or what I was meant to take away from it.

Then again, I am way older than the target audience and possibly I would have felt different had I read it when I was younger. There definitely was parts of it that I did like, and it wasn't by any means a bad book or anything. ( )
  upontheforemostship | Feb 22, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 717 (next | show all)

» Add other authors (18 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Chbosky, Stephenprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Galvin, NoahNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Canonical title
Original title
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Information from the Italian Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
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Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
For my family
First words
Dear Friend, I am writing to you because she said you listen and understand and didn't try to sleep with that person at that party even though you could have.
Quotations
“Charlie, we accept the love we think we deserve.”
“Not everyone has a sob story, Charlie, and even if they do, it’s no excuse.”
And I thought that all those little kids are going to grow up someday. And all those little kids are going to do the things that we do. And they will all kiss someone someday. But for now, sledding is enough. I think it would be great if sledding were always enough, but it isn’t.
Because I guess we all forget sometimes. And I think that everyone is special in their own way. I really do.
The inside jokes weren’t jokes anymore. They had become stories. Nobody brought up the bad names or the bad times. And nobody felt sad as long as we could postpone tomorrow with more nostalgia.
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Information from the Spanish Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
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Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
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Wikipedia in English (2)

Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. HTML:Read the cult-favorite coming of age story that takes a sometimes heartbreaking, often hysterical, and always honest look at high school in all its glory. Now a major motion picture starring Logan Lerman and Emma Watson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a funny, touching, and haunting modern classic.
The critically acclaimed debut novel from Stephen Chbosky, Perks follows observant "wallflower" Charlie as he charts a course through the strange world between adolescence and adulthood. First dates, family drama, and new friends. Sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Devastating loss, young love, and life on the fringes. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it, Charlie must learn to navigate those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as growing up.

A years-long #1 New York Times bestseller, an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults and Best Book for Reluctant Readers, and with millions of copies in print, this novel for teen readers (or "wallflowers" of more-advanced age) will make you laugh, cry, and perhaps feel nostalgic for those moments when you, too, tiptoed onto the dance floor of life.

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