The Perks of Being a Wallflower

by Stephen Chbosky

[clementine]

Okay, so, as always, I enjoyed this book much more the second time around. I think I was 14 the first time I read it, and I just couldn't identify with it as much as I do now that I'm almost 18 and am in Sam and Patrick's position.

I can see why all the Tumblr girls love Perks. It's insanely quotable. I'm not just talking about "And in that moment, I swear we were infinite" or "We accept the love we think we deserve" or even the quote about how people having it worse doesn't change your situation. It is just generally a quotable book, and Charlie's thoughts often resonate.

There are certainly issues with the book. One of the most-criticized aspects of it is that it feels a bit like an after-school special, with drugs, sexual abuse/assault, abortion, homosexuality, and many other topical issues packed into it. I think it's true that these issues might be concentrated within a small group of characters, but I never felt like it was completely unbelievable or false. I think it's true that Chbosky was trying to do something with this book, and I think it's worth considering that this book is now 13 years old and the issues were probably much edgier then, as they hadn't been broached as often in mainstream YA literature. And it's also worth noting that abortion STILL has not become a common topic in YA, and certainly not in the casual way in which it's presented in Perks, even a decade and a half later.

The other main problem is Charlie. It's hard not to love him, because he's generally a sweet guy who tries to do the right thing, and a lot of his thoughts and struggles are really relatable. But, yes, at times he is too juvenile to be believable. When he talks about how a sentence had "a swear" at age 16, especially when he's hanging around the "bad kids" and doing drugs? Come on! I do like him overall and find him a sympathetic narrator, but some of it just doesn't ring true.

Reading Perks gives me this strange kind of nostalgia. It feels very real, despite the breadth of the issues presented being a bit unbelievable. All of the characters could really exist, and Charlie's anxiety and struggles getting through high school are things I can relate with. I think Perks is such a successful book because of how quotable it is and how relatable many of the characters' problems are. I don't think it's the perfect book that Tumblr as a whole makes it out to be, but I think it has a lot of merit and will continue to be enjoyed by young adults for years to come.