"Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky

“So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.”
- Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Your freshman year of high school is full of all sorts of things: good, bad, and in between. It's scary going to the bigger school and having to meet new people. Not to mention all the pressures that are presented.

It was no different for Charlie. It was his freshman year, and he had no friends. His only friend committed suicide, and his home life wasn't much better, either. So he felt completely alone.
 

Soon enough, Charlie met Patrick in one of his classes. Even though Patrick was a senior, he was still in a freshman shop class because he never passed. Charlie went to his first high school football game and was looking for a place to sit when Patrick invited him to sit next to him. And that's when he met her: Sam.

Sam is Patrick's step-sister, and love at first sight for Charlie. The three instantly become inseparable. They brought Charlie into their lives and showed him how to live! They showed him how to be himself and have fun!

One of the most well-known scenes in the book is when the three were riding in Patrick's truck, and Sam climbed in back and stood up in the truck bed as they drove through a tunnel with the stereo blaring. Charlie was introduced to new music, and a new sense of emotions.

This book was written as multiple letters from Charlie to a person we don't know. He tells the anonymous person about what is going on with his family, school, his friends, and how he is growing up.  He basically just tells his story of how he developed from being the wallflower to being his own person.

Read about Charlie's struggles, memories, and life-changing moments. Reading this made me view things a little differently. You never really know what someone is going through unless they tell you. If someone isn't outgoing and doesn't do all of the "cool" things, it doesn't mean he/she isn't an incredibly beautiful soul. We all go through different hardships throughout our lifetime, we just have to find friends that will help us through those times and love us no matter what.

Don't let what other people think hold you back! Don't hold yourself back! Just live life, but live it in center stage, not in the audience.

This is now a major motion picture, starring Emma Watson! It was released in fall of 2012 and is now available on DVD. Watch the trailer:

The movie is rated PG-13; however, the movie leaves out a lot of things in the book. In my opinion, the reader needs to be at least 16. There is a lot of mature content within this book.


A BIG THANK YOU to my friends this week for being in my pictures: Nolan (Charlie), Rachel (Sam), and Cameron (Patrick).