When people looked tired, I played something fun. When they looked like they wanted to talk, I played something soft. It was a great way to sit alone at a party and still feel a part of things.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
by Stephen Chboksy
Genre: YA Contemporary
About: Charlie is scared about starting High School. He's grown up an outsider, even in his own family, and lost his best friend to suicide. To cope, he writes letters to a stranger and in them he details life as he observes it. Slowly, and with the help of two new friends, he starts to take part in life, to "participate".
The Good
The characters are full of life. Charlie gives detailed, insightful observations on just about everyone he interacts with. There are no background characters (for the most part) as Charlie is genuinely interested in going beyond surface level. Jocks, feminists, cheerleaders, stoners, racist granddads, bickering parents, we get given a stereotype and then layers are added onto each. No-one's perfect, no-one's irredeemable either. Everyone just simply is.
The Bad
While it's easy to fall in love with Charlie, having him as the narrator means that we're an outsider to most of the action, and this in turn means that we don't get to experience the events that change of lot of the characters. We don't get to fall in love with them. The story wouldn't work with any other narrator, but it means that there's a distance between the reader and every other character who isn't Charlie.
The Somewhat Iffy
Michael is the best friend that we learned killed himself at the start of the novel and there are moments that Charlie reflects on this, but it doesn't feel relevant to the story. If he had never known Michael, the story would have been the same. So many characters leave a deep impression on Charlie and shape who he is, but Michael doesn't seem to be one of them. He's the only one whose impact I didn't feel on Charlie.
Overall
This is a quick read that leaves a lasting impression. A beautifully written coming-of-age tale that gives a scarily realist portrait of teenage hardships. Perhaps what I love most about it, is that this was Charlie's story, but any one of the characters we meet has a story of their own, just as important.
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