The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is quickly rising to become one of my favorite books. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for an easy yet thought provoking read. I read it just as I was finishing high school, and found that it was fairly easy to relate to, although my high school experience wasn’t nearly intense as the main character’s, Charlie, was. I found the story very interesting, and I enjoyed Chbosky choice to turn it into an epistolary novel, which, in my opinion, lets the reader in more because we know every thought that goes through the protagonist’s head.
I admit it took me awhile to make the connection that Charlie was mentally unstable. I read most of the book believing that Charlie was just an awkward, shy kid who wasn’t very good at socializing with people, (very relatable in my case). Near the end of the novel, however, I realized that there was something more to it. Although Charlie smoked pot, took LSD, broke a girl’s heart, and several boys’ noses, he continued to keep this childish innocence that threw me off. How could someone who’s gone through all of these “grown up” situations still look at the world through the eyes of a child? It all became clear to me at the end. Charlie was suffering from a traumatic experience that had happened to him when he was barely five years old, and it had taken him a long time and a few triggering experiences to make him remember what had happened.
I remember talking to my friend after we had both finished the book. The two of us were slightly confused about what had happened. Charlie had been having a meltdown of some kind and then woke up in the hospital, without much memory of what had happened. It wasn’t until my friend and I watched the recent movie adaptation of the book that we finally understood. Charlie had been molested by his aunt who had come to stay with them when he was younger, until his aunt was hit by a car and killed. Charlie loved his aunt very much, she was his favorite person in the world, so his subconscious pushed these weird uncomfortable memories to the back of his mind until he found them again. This realization clarified much for me. I finally understood the reasoning behind Charlie’s mental breakdown and it broke my heart. His mind was still that of the child who didn’t understand what his aunt was doing to him, and promised to keep it a secret even if he didn’t much like it, because he loved his aunt more than anything. It gave a more tangible feel to the story, even if it made me slightly sick.
I definitely suggest that you read The Perks of Being a Wallflower first, and then watch the movie, it will help the book make more sense, and give you a more cathartic experience.
Autumn Micketti 